Portuguese Add Fuel is one of the artists that were recently in Stavanger, Norway during this year’s Nuart festival. Although Add Fuel’s wall wasn’t part of the official program it was curated by Nuart in collaboration with Stavanger airport.
Photo © AddFuel
As usual in his work Add Fuel he makes a point highlighting his Portuguese identity by introducing and reinterpreting the language of the traditional Portuguese azulejo, in a Norwegian setting. In this case, the west coast of Norway.
Add fuel describes this particular piece as a dimensional and formal exploration of overlapped patterned repetition. This patterned repetition has been achieved through the use of stencil in a non linear surface where two apparently familiar elements coexist in the same space.
The new piece is part of his “Disruption” series which he has been developing around the traditional Norwegian Rogaland Rosemaling style.
Add Fuel’s work highlights in this way the significance of tradition, that is, what it means for us and how we can preserve it in a fast paced and technologically advanced modern world.
Photo © Urbanite
Photo © Urbanite
Photo © Urbanite
Photo © AddFuel
About the artist
Add Fuel is Po
rtuguese visual artist and illustrator Diogo Machado (1980). A former graphic designer, his recent artistic practice has been focused on reinterpreting and playing with the language of traditional tile design, and that of the Portuguese tin-glazed ceramic azulejo in particular. Blending traditional and contemporary elements, his original vector-based designs and stencil-based street art reveal an impressive complexity and a masterful attention to detail. Based on a combination of tesselations that create balance from symmetrical repetitions and visual illusion techniques such as trompe-l’œil, his multi-layered patterned compositions create a poetic rhythm that plays with the viewer’s perception and the possibilities of interpretation. He has been showcasing his work in both solo and group exhibitions since 2006, as well as participating in some of the world’s leading urban art events.
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Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
