A Friendly Arm to Araripe
As a restorer I would say that a considerable part of the arts of our time will be lost due to ignorance of the materials being used. Even oils paints and cotton or linen canvas rarely nowadays have the quality that they did in the old days.
Such being the case, I was immediately surprised that a self-taught artist – exactly Oscar Araripe - came to see me in searching of a type of canvas as clear as tracing paper, but yet having a durability greater than the normal materials used.
Araripe wanted his brush to be able to run freely, “as swiftly as the rhythm of the substance and truly faithful to the first stroke”. Well, by pure chance I had what he wanted – a synthetic nautical sail that I use as a base for my restorations. It has minimal mobility and great permanence, it can be soaked and still can support great heat – so, Oscar shut himself up in my studio and by the end of the day he had a beautiful painting in his hand. And I say beautiful, despite the discipline of trying to restrain myself within the bounds of my professions.
But I could not do it: Araripe is a great painter, a beautiful painter without any doubt.
Marylka Mendes *
* Professor of Art History and Restoration of Brazilian Federal University ( UFRJ ) and owner – for more than 40 years – of one of the most important artwork brazilian restoration’s atelier, at Rio de Janeiro.
“With his outodoor exhibitions, using synthetic canvas ( nautical sail) for the first time in painting, Araripe meets in a original way the challenge of taking art straight to the multitudes “
Fernando Lemos *
* Art critic, journalist and writer. He was Brasilia City Cultural Secretary for 8 years.
Article Source: http://www.artsymmetry.com
Please Rate this Article
Not yet Rated
Additional Articles From -
Home |
Arts & Music History 
