Deserto-Modelo Lucas Arruda

The pieces by Lucas Arruda are about memory in the first place, before being landscape painting. They are memories built inside the atelier, not outdoors. They are more characterized as moments of the artist instead of nature: a second content deriving from the first one. There is the will to affirm himself as a man, as a subject. Yes, I have been there, I remember what I felt. He does that by recreating the light and the colors that triggered happiness, melancholy, sadness, and the plenitude of having been there at that time.

Apparently, he finds or tries to find order in the world inside the atelier. He recreates all of those sensations by exercising what he likes most, painting. And for that it is normal that sometimes his starting point would be the painting of other artists. A tree by Corot, the sea of Turner, or a beach by Reverón. We also look at the world through the eyes of artists we appreciate.

I believe he might find transcendence through repetition. From one painting to the other. The previous painting reverberates, echoes, and shows the route to the next one. The color, the tones that were in that piece 4 months ago reappear in the one concluded yesterday.

An autumn afternoon. I keep wondering that maybe the title of the last movie by Yasujiro Ozu, from 1962, would be perfect to describe Lucas’ work (because, in Portuguese, the literal translation of the title would be ‘Routine has its charms’). But most of his paintings have no title. Titles that serve the purpose of distinguishing or describing a piece would not make sense here. Or could you imagine that one of these paintings might be called Afternoon in Barra do Una? If it were so, all of the ambiguity would disappear, as well as the whole attempt of reconstruction through memory.

The lack of titles in these pieces also leads us to think we have seen those paintings before. However, if we look at them long enough, they reveal themselves as being different. I do not recall most of my days with accuracy. But that can be justified, since my memory is not one of my best features. And days are not the same, they are different, unique. And so are Lucas’ paintings.


– Rodrigo Bivar