Photo by Gustavo Bom
1.Bordalo II is a growing artist.
His passion for painting goes back to his childhood, when he spent hours on end watching his grandfather paint in his studio and also due to the underworld of the city of Lisbon — strongly influenced at the time by graffiti practices. He started spray painting walls on the streets at the age of 11, with the artistic name Bordalo II, in honor and highlight the artistic legacy of his grandfather Artur Real Bordalo (1925-2017). In the painting course at the Academy of Fine Arts in Lisbon, he discovered sculpture, ceramics and began to experiment with the most diverse materials. Since 2012, Artur Bordalo has created around two hundred animal sculptures using over 60 tons of recycled materials.
Portuguese World Photography
2. Nationally and internationally renowned artist
Public space is the chosen stage for his explorations of color and scale and the platform where he has built and developed his artistic work, which currently focuses on questioning the materialistic and greedy society of which he is (also) a part. In fact, his work is represented in several museums in the country and in private collections in France, Italy, Japan, the United States and Germany.
3. The works of Bordalo II are constantly appreciating.
Since the beginning of his career, there has been a growth in demand for his pieces. As there is a lot of demand, whether large or small sculptures, the works of Bordalo II tend to value. Bordalo II is mostly known for his pieces of art made from waste, in a critique of consumerist society and the way human beings exploit natural resources. The truth is that the theme of sustainability, the use of materials, from waste, and pure realism attract the public!
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4.Art as a message for sustainability: Works of art that help the environment.
In recent centuries, the world population has been growing, thus increasing the consumption of natural resources and the production of waste. The act of consumption itself is not a problem, as it is necessary for our survival. However, when we consume excessively, exploiting the Earth's natural resources, we create adversities interfering with the balance of the planet. In a society where uncontrolled consumption and abandonment of practically new products is natural, it is necessary to talk about waste in order to create solutions for this problem. From the 1960s onwards, this environmental and ecological concern was brought to the field of the arts. Many artists began to produce works that questioned our own survival and the consequences of human action on natural resources. At a time when art was thought of as belonging to a closed space, museums, galleries, homes, a growing number of artists began to produce outside. Bordalo II grows with these preoccupations and transmits this disquiet constantly to his works. Its installations show the influence of artists such as Joseph Beuys, who believed that the only force capable of changing humanity and the social order was art, based on human creativity. But also Marcel Duchamp's ready-mades, collages by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, among other creations that have transformed our perception of a work of art.
Street Magazine Photography
5. Pieces of Art that stand out.
The formerly abandoned objects - the plates, the tires, the doors - in the hands of Bordalo II acquire an aesthetic and communicative function, in the shape of animals. The Portuguese artist wants to represent an image of nature in his works, based on what destroys them - garbage, waste and pollution, clearly expressing a critique of consumerism and offering a sustainable solution. His “Big Trash Animals” installations, spread across various locations around the world - public or museum - scream about the need for socio-ecological sustainability. On the streets of his hometown, a series of works, ”Provocative” and “Train Tracks”, interact with urban fabric and furniture, presenting a new critical look at society, its stakeholders and constraints. These small ephemeral interventions seek to be a vehicle of communication and awareness through art, thus addressing diverse themes, such as pollution, exploitation of women, media sensationalism, connectivity and control, among others.
