Page 162 - Masters

master

RITA dA COSTA

Lives and works in Sintra, Portugal

SEARCH THE ARTIST ONLINE www.ritadacosta.com

The current series was completed in recent years.
The gestural brushwork is employed to shape the
form, in portraits, landscapes and other objects.
Brushwork decomposes what has been formed
before, just like memory changes our past, using a
personal pattern of remembrance. Just like water
changes the image of the object reflected in it, the
memory reflection can provide abstraction and
pictorial gestures. The passing of time is visually
reflected, and the elementary colors appear in a
wider brushstroke.
To point out the meaning of a gesture means to
isolate it. The brushstroke becomes unique, and it
defines the painting. In the works of 2003, where the
gesture moved in differently, the wide brushstrokes
are formed by the gesture or act of color, and are not
accidental, but rather meditative acts. Using color
becomes an action in itself, which does not need any
additional explanations that would rationalize it. It is
important to recognize the meaning of the gesture,
as a statement against emptiness. Something
theatrical and musical occurs when the colors of
the elements become noticeable. 2004 marked a
change, as the gestures in single colors became
transparent, and increased the depth of the artwork.
The rhythm and the voice of the gesture conciliated
themselves to create harmony.
The clay sculptures have no name as of yet. The
improvisation of the action, the gesture of modeling
equal improvisation lead to abstraction, and the
“Body x” is always growing, organically, like a body,
like a city or like art is evolving. The improvisation
of the gesture, of the action, and the act of shaping
is the same, but the results are radically different,
and so “Body x’ is a part of a bigger body, evolving
endlessly. The series started in 2001 and it moved in
2003 towards drawings and smaller size sculptures,
and subsequently in glazed tiled panels and in
2005 in 3D.
Since 2003, the works on paper incorporate gestures
far from the painterly surface, where the paint draws
in ramifications at cellular level, which reminisce
the 2000 works. Somehow here the development
of the forms and happenings are equivalent to
body and blood, parts that connect themselves
with each others like an infinite puzzle, in a system
CUt OUt GestUre 1 (1998), 2004 /05 OIL ON CANvAS 29,5x55,5x0,3 IN. /76x142x1 CM. 
that connects with others in perpetual growth and
 UNtItLeD, 1999 ACRYLIC ON PAPER 11,5x16,5 IN. /29x42 CM. multiplication.
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