PORTALS AND MUCH BEYOND

Mystical. Imaginative. Oneiric. Spiritual. Rational. Precise. Logical. Productive. These are concepts that suit both the work and its author: Marcos de Oliveira. It has been six or more years of acquaintance and coexistence. Right from the start, his work impressed me deeply during our joint collaboration on an exhibition at Caixa Cultural in São Paulo. At the time, I lived alongside his angels, saints, and warriors; I was moved by his execution and procedures, the rigor of composition, the perfect lines, the appropriate and incredible colors.

But I must confess that what most caught my attention was a multitude of figures, symbols, and elements embedded with religiosity and mysticism—not rare to find in the culture and beliefs of our people in the Northeast.

And I see that Marcos continues his constant search for the realm of the unknown, the imponderable, the spiritual, the immaterial. I also see that the rigor in composition, forms, and lines has been further perfected. Like every conscious and spiritualist being, Marcos has reached, in this vortex of symbols, shapes, and colors, a line between the real and the unusual. He found "portals," foresaw "signs," and celebrated "sightings."

In his and our imagination, portals would grant access to other planes (outside the earth or within ourselves), other dimensions, other levels of consciousness. The transpositions of the portals reveal signs to us and provide sightings of fictional "beings," playful compositions as key elements for us to understand and experience his creativity. The artist enables us to access his dimensional world through geometric constructions and the rigorous use of forms, paints, and colors. A world of chimeras, much like in Greek mythology.

A world that awakens in us the search for the unknown, the mysterious, the secret, and much beyond.

(*) Elvira Vernaschi Curator, historian, and art critic. Member of ABCA and AICA — Brazilian and International Associations of Art Critics. São Paulo, July 2018.

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SERIES: THE PORTAL

This series, titled “The Portal,” began in 2017. The essence of my work lies in the exploration of ancestry and spirituality, taken as the guiding thread and starting point. Formally, this research is anchored in symbolic elements and the reinterpretation of geometric shapes, with particular emphasis on the circle and the triangle.

Spirituality in my work refers to the connection and completeness between spirit and matter. It is a visual appeal for reconciliation with nature, with all the sacred beings of the universe, and, ultimately, with the divine. The work is, therefore, an invitation to contemplate unity and totality.

The series is developed through acrylic paintings on canvas panels of various formats. Since the beginning of my involvement with art, my painting has always been permeated by motifs linked to spirituality.

In 2017, I was invited to participate in the group exhibition “SPIRITUALITY” at Livin’Art Gallery — Lucca, Italy. In 2018, I was awarded the Acquisition Prize at the 2nd Brasília Arts Biennial (DF) for the work “The Great Portal,” from this same series, which belongs to the SESC DF collection, Brazil.

Whether in my previous works of a figurative nature or in my current ones that follow a more geometric line, my art will always be linked to spirituality. It is this spiritual connection, this force that makes me persist and resist, moving forward along this path that only true art is capable of pointing out.

Marcus Zayit | Artist.