ODE, by Álvaro Guilherme

Álvaro Guilherme is an Angolan artist living and working in Berlin. For his first solo exhibition in Berlin with BETA, titled Ode, Guilherme presents a series of large format paintings and works on paper, produced in Kreuzberg during March 2021. Simultaneously expressing with textural abundance and graphic symbolism, Guilherme takes the moment and runs with it, pacing past the limitations of each artwork and quickly progressing onto the next. There is an inherent musicality when seeing these works together, each painting like separate sections of an orchestra, coming together for this exhibition well rested and well rehearsed. In this series of works, the artist explores a maturing theme in his practice, the practice of Neo Brut, the practice of working quickly with the materials you have on hand. During the month of March, the artist took a rare opportunity to work uninterrupted in his studio, focusing solely on painting.

The resulting four vibrant canvases, and accompanying monochrome works create not only a snapshot of the moods and thoughts captured in a month, but also an early record of the emerging practice of Neo Brut. While walking through the city of Berlin, one of the largest cities that Guilherme has lived in, the artist has taken large amounts of inspiration from the life of the street. Akin to a solo dérive, the practice of wandering aimlessly through a city, guided by architectural and environmental cues, each of these paintings seem to blend together as if in a cityscape. This body of work constitutes a rapid passage through and past the complex visual landscapes that we inhabit every day. It’s clear that the self-contained symbolism throughout these works is inspired by the urban environment. Not only does Guilherme reuse the symbols of the street, but incorporates actual found material in a radical integration of his practice, Neo Brutalism, the creation of important urban art ephemera. To walk through this exhibition is to create a connection with the pace of Guilherme’s mind and his work. To view the works at this point, as the paint has barely dried on the canvas, gives a deep impression of the energy, the drive it takes to create such works, in such a short period of time.

The powerful impression is characteristic of Neo Brut.  Neo Brut has been pioneered in the last 5 years by Guillherme. While the finished articles in this genre are uniquely well composed, each painting is worked on for a fantastically short period of time, often just a few days. The rhythm of the city is dictated not only by the sun and the moon, but where street light is available, where space is available. These constraints of time and space mean that the artist only has a short period of time to create the works of Neo Brut before the light goes out and he moves on. The practice of working so quickly takes an enormous toll on an artist, sometimes going without sleep or food, in order to capture the energy of the moment and of the urban environment.