A trip to the Tate Modern lead to the discovery of my new favourite artist; Julião Sarmento. This Portuguese artist, a bliever that 'the subject is what is not there' fuses the art of media with universal themes of memory, mortality, duality, sexuality and transgression. "His work is characterised by a concise vocabulary of images and motifs through which he explores states of ambiguity, ruptured narratives and the nature of desire." I'm an avid fan of the combination of collage and sketched images, and popular culture references and I'm utterly drawn to the fragmented aspect of his work. My personal favourite piece is entitled Dublin-Trieste 2 December 2009 and is based on excerpts from a love letter written by James Joyce to his wife Nora (I spend some time just standing in front of this in the Tate Modern before beckoning Ezara over). This is a series of photo-and-sketch-based work inspired by select lines from Joyce's letter, I found it quite stirring.
"...there is also a wild beast-like craving for every inch of your body, for every secret and shameful part of it, for every odour and act of it..."
I do love a recurrent motif.
Blau x
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