Bruno Portugal

untitled
crayon on paper
33,2 x 32 cm
2013


what can i say? when i was doing this drawing i was trying to understand how come
my life had become so monotonous: my thoughts, my actions they looked like everything
was always the same. Suddenly i was comparing my actions to the movements of the waves.
When i go to the beach there's always this moment, before i go in the water, that i wait like half an hour
in front of all that ocean and i just stay there looking, watching each wave. There's a moment that i think
they are all the same. But than if i really pay attention i realize that each wave has something in particular:
the strength, the dimension, the color and even the sound... and this made me think: my life is not
monotonous; i just must look at the stuff around me with other eyes and actually see the things,
and than i will realize that each thought, each action that i do, has something different even when they look like so similar, and than i will feel something new, and see something new. The dimension of the paper
it's because it's almost like a perfect square. I wanted to mix this perfection with the random graphism of  the waves, and some how turn the imperfections into something perfect. Because they are perfect to me. And the waves are not in the horizontal position because that's the result, for me, of staring at the ocean: i actually saw what was in front of me, with my way of thinking. Things can be whatever i want them to be, and the way i feel them: so, in my ocean, the waves are waving in a vertical position.


untitled
oil and spray on canvas
30 x 24cm
2013


In western society, the triangle most often has highly christian meanings when used in a religious context. Because the christian God is a trinity - Father, Son and Holy Ghost united in a single godhead – he is commonly represented by a triangle. This religious idea is important because this painting talks about two guys who are deeply in love for each other. And i kind of wanted to confront, in my head, Christianity and Homosexuality.  As a three-sided polygon, the triangle represents the number three, which is meaningful to many groups. As such, triangles and other symbols made of three parts may be used to present such concepts as past, present, and future or spirit, mind and body. The number three is also connected with the idea of Perfection, because of religious thoughts. It is present in my painting because gay love is so perfect and so acceptable because it is what it is: love. The orientation of a triangle can be important to it's meaning. For example, a point-up triangle might represent a strong foundation or stability, as it is rooted to the ground through a solid base. Symbols for air and fire are formed from point-down triangles. The point-up triangle can represent male energy, and fire and air are masculine elements. This painting is part of some other paintings of mine; all together they talk about love. This is not a love story, but a story about love.