Amor Perfeito

AMOR PERFEITO
Porto does something to people.
It is one of those cities that arrives with its own particular atmosphere — the tiles covering entire building facades in intricate blue and white patterns that have been there for centuries, the particular quality of Atlantic light falling on the Douro, the steep streets that force you to slow down, the scent of local soap and coffee and something older and more specific that belongs only to this city at this particular latitude. Visitors come for a weekend and find themselves, years later, still thinking about it.
This painting was made from that specific inability to let Porto go.
Inspired by a visit that left an indelible impression, Amor Perfeito is not a representation of Porto so much as a physical piece of it — a collage that incorporates cuttings from classical Portuguese soap packaging, layers of fine crepe paper, acrylic, washi tape and stickers built up into a surface that contains the city as much as it depicts it. The golden background pays direct homage to the azulejos — those extraordinary tile traditions that transformed the facades of Porto's buildings into permanent works of art, centuries before anyone thought to put the word "street" in front of "art". The blue jug, the pink vase, the orange: the colours of a Mediterranean table, of a southern European afternoon, of a still life made from everything the city offered.
The soap package embedded in the surface is not decoration. It is a fragment of the city itself, preserved. The artwork smells of Porto, if you know how to look.
Amor Perfeito. Perfect love. The particular feeling of a place that has claimed a part of you and kept it.
30.5 × 30.5 cm · Acrylic, glue, spray paint, fine crepe paper, washi tape, reclaimed soap package, Posca markers and stickers on canvas panel · 2022 · One of a kind Unframed. Signed on the front and signed, titled and dated on the reverse. Certificate of Authenticity included.