San Francisco Cultural Centre - Béjar - Salamanca - Spain

San Francisco Cultural Centre - Béjar - Salamanca - Spain

LUÍS SOARES - THE SYMBOLISM OF THE IMAGE

"Art not only has at its disposal all the richness of natural forms, in their infinite and varied appearances, but the creative imagination still makes it capable of externalising itself into intentions in which it is itself an inexhaustible source."

G.W.F. Hegel. Introduction to Aesthetics. Peninsula Editions. 1979

For Hegel, aesthetics is the philosophy of art, or what is the same: the science of artistic beauty. Two centuries later and, therefore, from a contemporary perspective, we have the work of the multidisciplinary artist Luis Soares (Lourenço Marques, today Maputo; Mozambique. 1952), for whom the search for beauty is the cornerstone of his artistic creations, but not under the concept of traditional, classical beauty, but of inner beauty, of the spirit of natural forms and of the infinite representations of everyday objects.

Possibly the fact that he was born in an African country, where colour, light and landscape are sources of creative inspiration, had an impact on his work, but if we add to this the influences he received through his travels in Europe, his work is the result of the fusion of both cultures.

Soares considers himself a self-taught artist, although this is not entirely true, since there is a theory, which I consider wrong, that if he did not attend a School or Faculty of Fine Arts, this means that he does not have sufficient theoretical knowledge. The reality indicates the opposite, since the teachings also come from the participation in artists' workshops or specific courses, both theoretical and practical. And this is the case of Luís Soares, who is interested in all kinds of creative manifestations: painting, drawing, sculpture, ceramics, muralism, glass, graphic work, etc.

Luís Soares' artistic activity started very early, as at the age of 16 he was showing his pictorial works in Mozambique, mainly watercolours, pastels and crayons. In 1974, he held his first important individual exhibition at the Yellow House in Lourenço Marques. In the same year he ventured into the field of muralism and sculpture - using bronze, aluminium or even, although it may seem contradictory, elements of scrap metal.

A few years later, in 1982 to be precise, he met the Catalan ceramist Antoni Cumella, who showed him how to apply the stoneware technique to his works. By this time Soares was already living in Portugal and travelling frequently throughout Europe, where he exhibited in different countries. His first exhibition in Spain was only in 1986, at the Beruet Gallery in Logroño, where he exhibited his work regularly until the mid-nineties.

Ramon Casalé

Member of the International Association of Art Critics

-Exhibition Catalogue