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Expression, Exploration, and Intuition in Nadir Afonso’s Cities

2022; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-031-04703-9_6

2661-8192

Aitor Goitia Cruz,

Historical Studies of Medieval Iberia

Unquestionable leitmotiv of all his work, the urban reality provided Nadir Afonso with innumerable occasions for conceptual and material experimentation with which to give shape to his complex and highly personal interpretations. Beyond the thematic or chronological boundaries with which Afonso’s work has been classified, the constant presence of the city on his thoughts and actions would provide the painter-architect with the keys to capture space and time with singular freshness. A transversal approach to a selection of his works reveals the progressive gestural evolution of his compositions, from the in-depth exploration and reformulation of the chosen theme to the mimetic translation of the intuitions inherent to the previous studies into large-scale final works. A restrained gestural expressiveness, consistent with the leisurely thought on the geometric beauty of the city, will give way to the radical expressiveness of the rapid stroke, common in small formats, to become the true protagonist of a particular production that takes the city as an excuse and the gesture as an argument.