He has already exhibited his creations in several cities around the world and it is impossible to be indifferent to his art. Through his work, he expresses his concern about the impact on the environment caused by a consumerist society and the repercussions of that impact on our Planet.
Bordalo II, as he called himself, to pay tribute to his grandfather, Artur Real Bordalo, a renowned Portuguese painter, experienced his grandfather’s work, mainly characterized by watercolours and oil paintings from the city of Lisbon portraying its urbanity. Besides this influence, Bordalo II also recognizes the influence of graffiti on the walls of Lisbon, both of which, led him to choose the public space as the setting for the presentation of his works.
We can understand a dialogue between Bordalo II and his audience, occasional or passing visitors, questioning our society, consumerist and materialist, turning the consequence into the “material” to develop his artistic work.
Appealing to a collective conscience for the garbage that we produce, it reuses it as raw material for its constructions, which are nothing more than pieces of metal, plastic, tin, nets, among others, all materials that were used to build a series of animals in large format are on display in various places, and with which Bordalo II wanted to convey his message, that the materials he uses for his constructions, “are the same ones that kill animals”. This statement is obvious in each of these creations.
The various series of works, warns of the waste that is generated and deposited in the soil, or in the ocean.
The Floating Plastics series portrays the ocean pollution scenario and with the various works, it intends to generate an alert for this problem.
An example of this is the creation of Swimming with Sharks presented at the Ono´U Tahiti Festival in French Polynesia. In the same place, the piece made of plastic, in which the name The World’s Most Dangerous Predator – Plastic symbolizes very well the concept associated with it. The Human Look, the face of a skeleton man, exposed between the sea and the rocks in Cascais, Portugal, is the representation of the environmental tragedy that plastic and other debris in the oceans are causing in the various marine ecosystems.
Just like the Neutral series, in which Bordalo II covers all the pieces with neutral colours or close to the reality you want to recreate. Several works in this series are also distributed in several cities, making the animals that were chosen according to the location of the exhibition compatible. As an example, the Iberian Lynx (one animal close to extinction, and that was possible through the involvement of several organizations keep the species away from extinction) exhibited in Lisbon, Portugal, or Los Loros (recreation of two parrots), in the City of Carmen in Mexico, or the work Turtle (a turtle) presented at the Ono´U Festival in Tahiti in French Polynesia. And so many others that you can see here from the Big Trash Animals series.
Besides these series, many others are possible to discover, like the Gallery Format series, in this series the works result in smaller structures that can be displayed in spaces such as galleries. Provocative is a series of works that expose a more political voice in the artistic expression of Bordalo II, which provokes society to discuss various current issues. And also the Train Tracks series, a visit that is worth doing, the graffiti world that Bordalo II evokes on the train lines in several locations, and with different perspectives.
Despite being a young artist, Bordalo II got his art to reach the four corners of the world, today he is widely recognized for his works and is one of the most promising contemporary artists.
Hope that you have enjoyed knowing Bordalo II,
Yours,
Vera