Diferença 2018

Alberto Pereira made this large painting, titled Diferença, on a textured wooden support. Look at the pink ground, how it's stained and marked, and imagine the artist layering up imagery, maybe stenciling, maybe projecting, maybe just going for it. I love thinking about the physical act of painting; the way the body moves and the mind works while trying to wrestle an image into being. This guy is hauling a huge, almost equal sign, like he is Atlas carrying the world on his shoulders. It's heavy, awkward. He's also weighed down with a chain and ball, but for me, it’s the expression on his face, and the marks around him, that convey a sense of his situation and inner state. Those darting marks could be anything, like thoughts or forces swirling around the figure. I wonder what Pereira was thinking about while he made this. Maybe artists of the past, like Goya, or maybe he was looking at contemporary street art. As painters, we’re always in dialogue with each other, riffing on themes and images, and trying to express something about the world as we see it. It’s never a fixed, certain thing, but an ongoing, open-ended conversation.