PAINT ON PAINT #1 BY VASCO DIOGO
Directed by Vasco Diogo/ Reviewed by Adva Reichman
Paint on Paint is a celebration of color, emotions and thoughts. It’s the first short out of a series of experimental animation that follow general guidelines, but differ in sentiment. The director, Vasco Diogo, decided all shorts will focus on a specific set of tools regarding brushes, ink and color and deliver an abstract meaning that connects concepts to perceptions. The beautiful splashes of color shift on screen and resemble a dance that goes beautifully with the music composed by Eurico Brandao and Andre Romanenko. As the music intensifies, so do the images. They flicker, change sizes, move locations and leave your eyes enjoying the views.
According to the director, Paint on Paint #1 uses dripping techniques that emulate abstract expressionist painting and the work of Stan Brakhage, in order to produce insights about ourselves and the world we live in.
Vasco Diogo is a professor at University of Beira Interior, teaching mainly directing, new cinemas and experimental cinema. His work, which displayed all over the world, focuses on performance, video art and experimental cinema and touches on themes such as self-presentation, truth and manipulation. Diogo describes his creative process as listening to silence and channeling an outside, primitive or raw creation spirit in order to drive his urge to create. I for one, am really curious to know what his thought process contained while working on this beautiful creation.
Diogo admits he is strongly influenced by the language of experimental cinema and video art, not only as a viewer but also as an academic researcher and teacher.
Those led him to a conceptualization regarding issues of medium specificity such as technology, co?creative determination, temporality, manipulation, self-documentation, the body as language, the hybridization between image, sound and real space and the viewer’s implication in the work.
He uses his artto take the viewers on a unique and exceptional journey that will stimulate our eyes, and keep our minds racing while being glued to the screen. The vibration and rhythm of the colors make the video thrilling to watch. Looking forwards to the next creation in this picturesque series.
