João Freire
Born in Lisbon, João Freire completed his Architecture studies in ESBAL, followed by an ongoing professional career in the field.
Having worked for several years as a creative director, discovering design (connected to marketing) was a consequential step. Painting was always a concurrent exploration, given the drive to pursue fields that supplement his academic and professional paths. Having done six individual exhibitions, his work is present in several private collections.
Bruma
2019
Barros & Bernard • Lisboa
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Desired
It goes unnoticed. It’s just there. The shadow, our own shadow, the biggest proof of our own existence. Undeniable. We don’t feel it, constant, undeceiving, loyal. It does not flee. It does not let go of the body that keeps going, striving, moving, holding and embracing, that stands up and lies down over the earth, that falls and rises again. Again. Lines that intersect when guided by the movement of a hand that pulls, overlaying transparencies, lost in the detail. So it dives. For it awaits another shadow, of some other someone.
November. Moonlight concealed, threatening cold, curtains that steal unknown curiosities. It is almost irresistible, the desire to discover the figure that approaches, in the twilight, in the contrast of luminosity, sweet mist that spills between towering buildings. Each waiting moment has that effect, amplifying the desire, the fear, or the irrational that makes us ever more fragile, with each passing moment. Peeking once more, as one waits, groping, touching, pushing away the veils which conceal from sight.
Is it coming or not, coming.
Or not.
Coming.
There is a continuous expression, a signature of his art, that João Freire brought to his sixth individual exhibition. Change after change, tones that become more or less distant, and an inherent presence. A distinctive mark that affirms itself. The author’s fingerprint. As always. But, now, with multiple meanings. Game of light. It’s not shadow, but brume. Did I see that right? Let’s restart.
António Diegues Ramos
