5inco 2019

Alberto Pereira made "5inco," sometime around now. It's 70 by 50 centimeters, the perfect size for a creative experiment. What strikes me is the conversation happening between the stark black-and-white portrait and the riot of color behind it. The way those pastel pinks, greens, and oranges are smeared and scrawled across the surface feels almost like graffiti, a palimpsest of marks and gestures. I love how the paint looks slapped on, like he’s not precious about it. There's a real push-and-pull between the layers. The background isn't just decoration; it feels like it's actively shaping the portrait, bleeding into the edges, creating this sense of depth and texture. Look at the top-left, the colours become really dense, with little notes or words etched into the paint. It’s a process of building up and breaking down, a kind of visual archaeology. It reminds me of Jean-Michel Basquiat's collage work. Art's an ongoing dialogue, right? A back-and-forth across time and space.