Ricardo Brito

The painting entitled Herói do L. is part of the series “Iconografia Iconoclasta”, developed by Ricardo Brito, aiming at the construction of a language (images, representations, illustrations) of the destruction of the very idea of work of art, of image, and of icon. Broadly speaking, the artist aims at reexamining traditions, behaviors and norms of representation and, in that sense, actualizes the religious icon through the representation of an entity that embodies the ignored and forgotten, although it maintains, with a glimpse of irony, the dimension of reverence for a certain character (the hero). The net that covers the mixture of fragments without individuality or identity synthesizes the exaltation of that which is without value. Also the imprecision between background and image direct us to the representation of the destruction of tradition. The opposition to a defined and recognizable image, sculpted by a strong black contour, refers to the abstractionism developed by Jean Dubuffet; not unlike the concepts developed by the movement of Art Brut, Ricardo Brito seems to want to defend the representation of the daily world, banal and ignored, and to attack a certain idea of economic, but also cultural and artistic commoditization.