Territory: Osias André

When the artist brings his territory with him, his art becomes a refuge.

Osias André - @saiso_andre, from Mozambique, immigrated to Portugal 4 years ago where he won 3 scholarships from the independent art school @arcocentrodearte, an institution dedicated to experimentation and artistic training. Osias started painting when he was 8 years old and he began his artistic career through graphic illustration, producing a collection of books. For him, illustration offered a more immediate and direct sensation towards the observer while painting demands a slower and indirect digestion.

Osias shared with us his personal views regarding the main differences he noticed when he moved to Europe. In Africa, artistic work was linked to human sensitivities and emotions, while in Europe the focus turns out to be theoretical, physical and rational. The territories that Osias inhabited, from the institution that sheltered him as an orphan when he was a child, to the paths that led to Lisbon, have always impacted his creative process. Bodies, flowers and shapes appeared in his work, building compositions that reflect a delicate yet unusual beauty. The associations are colorful and the contours classic, revealing the sensibilities of an unknown territory. Osias's paintings also offer the opportunity to see body figures in a way that their identities are detached from gender. Identity is not found in the bodies themselves, but in what exists beyond what they represent.