Martinho Dias was born in 1968 in Sto. Tirso. He currently lives in Trofa, where he has a studio.
He has a master's degree in Fine Arts – Painting, from the Faculty of Fine Arts of Porto.
It is not possible to remain indifferent to Martinho Dias' painting. He captures your gaze, if nothing else because of the unusual break of formal environments he offers us. The dissonant element [...] introduces a caricatural and political dimension that arouses an interpretive gaze. And those who see must reflect, even if art, as Freud intended, may be incomprehensible and enigmatic. Martinho Dias asks us for the effort of reason to give in to the delight of the eye.
And it is not difficult. Through the tension that the faces convey, through the vigorous and markedly gestural smudge, through the light and the contrast of colours and through the irony, certainly, sometimes caricatural and satirical.
To remain indifferent to Martinho Dias' painting is to remain in disquiet and ambiguity. And we men, using the scalpel of explanatory reason, tend towards what is comfortable and right. The question is whether we get there.
António Tavares (Writer)
Traffic on the Bridge – Written Painting by Bruce Gertz
170 x 140 cm
Acrylic on canvas 2004
Traffic on the Bridge
Written Painting by BRUCE GERTZ
So, it's night time, late 2 or 3 AM. The person is viewed from behind sitting in a chair looking out a window at a bridge which is spanning the Cape Cod Canal. There are only a few cars or trucks because it is so late at night. From the side you can see the person is deep inside himself, observing the sparse traffic and hearing the sound as the occasional cars pass and vibrate the steel bridge. He smiles slightly as he thinks of something humorous such the living of a jazz musician. The bedroom is a cool teal blue colour but the light is very low so he can see out. He is wearing a colourful shirt with flowers and black pants from his gig. His hair is dark and shoes black. The chair is wood and has a tall back on it but he leans forward a bit while gazing at the bridge intent on getting something from the experience. And he does. He gets a beautiful song from the sound and mood of his thoughts and feelings.
Bruce Gertz
USA, January 2003