While most artists start their career with galleries and group exhibitions, Nelson’s career started with exhibiting in historic museums and going solo. “My career started on a high note,” recalls the Portuguese artist and teacher, Nelson Ferreira who was recently in Kathmandu. His art can only be viewed when light is shone on its surface in total darkness. Held at the Nepali Art Council, his exhibition is titled ‘PlatiGleam’ and comprises five paintings depicting the Monastery of the Dominicans of Batalha.
“The artworks were created at night at the historical medieval monastery of Batalha. It showcases the site which was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in Portugal. PlatiGleam artworks were first exhibited there,” he shares. Nelson is arguably the first artist in residence in the history of the museum.
PlatiGleam is a new reflective technique which does not require the use of pigments. It produces variable reflective effects depending on the incidence of light, inviting active and attentive observation by viewers, sometimes with the aid of a flashlight or mobile phone. When asked what are the elements used in PlatiGleam, the artist refused to disclose. “Well, let this be a secret. However, I will reveal the ingredients only after five years,” he said.
In the coming years, the artist desires to paint entire rooms using the PlatiGleam technique. “Imagine walking into a room and turning on the lights on your phone, only to see the entire room flashing with paintings on the floors, walls and ceilings,” he says. He also aims to collaborate with architects to create large murals that reveal hidden images under specific conditions like car lights at night or humidity levels.
Nelson discovered the PlatiGleam technique through his everyday morning ritual of journaling. “Every morning, I would write down all my thoughts in a diary, but then I would forget about them later. After three months, upon revisiting these pages, I was surprised to find that by piecing together different fragments and details, they revealed the secret to the PlatiGleam technique,” he shares.
Many art experts find PlatiGleam revolutionary as no other artists has ever mentioned this technique online. When asked about the technique’s durability, the artist claimes, “PlatiGleam technique’s durability, demonstrated through accelerated ageing tests, is at least as much as that of acrylic and other paintings. It can withstand outdoor conditions for centuries.”
He uses polyester canvas for the artwork and would paint only between 10 pm to 3 am. “I would have to interrupt the painting process because with the morning mist, the whole painting would turn black. The next day, I found out that it would revert to its normal state when dry. Even if you put water on it, it dries and can be displayed without exterior protection. This is a very strange technique; I have never experienced such a weird technique in my life,” he shares.
PlatiGleam artworks, in its first exhibition, witnessed a footfall of 126,000 people. “It was my second most successful exhibition. I loved people spending time discovering the artworks as today, people hardly have a long attention span,” smiles Nelson.
His other artwork series are also non photogenic. “I call them non Instagrammable series,” he laughs. A series of blue paintings and the painting of the famous Portuguese sculpture “The Exiled” are his most appreciated artworks. The blue paintings were painted during the Covid pandemic and give expression to human alienation. “This series was painted with 48 different pigments of blue and is painted in a way that it is blurry, lost and very undefined,” Nelson says. While the painting of “The Exiled” is an all-black painting which portrays the feelings that go inside the head of someone who loses everything. “And when you lose everything, you really lose everything except one thing. You don’t lose your thoughts,” he explains. The artist used seven chemically pure black pigments for the artwork. “The image is almost invisible. The public was mesmerised because initially they couldn’t see any painting as they entered the room. While they spent more time discovering the painting, they were able to see a face. There’s not only a face, there’s actually many animals. I painted dozens of symbols that represent thoughts,” he shares.
Two short films have been made on these artworks and these films were screened at the Berlin Film Festival. “The film on the Blue Series is a short film. It’s eight minutes long and talks about how the artist sees the world. It was a low budget film and was shot using blue filters, blue mirrors, blue smoke, blue lights and everything that was blue,” he shares.
Nelson is renowned for his proficiency in historical techniques and profound fascination for diverse cultural traditions. He specialises in the old European master’s methods, Primitive Flemish oil painting and 19th-century academic style. He works and teaches Russian and Greek iconography, Turkish marbling, and Indian miniature around the globe.
He works as a guest speaker for several leading institutions such as the National Portrait Gallery, Bank of America, law firm Macfarlanes LLP, Singapore Cricket Club, architecture offices Farrell’s and Kohn Pedersen Fox, Grosvenor Estates, The Crown Estate, InterNations, CreativeMornings, Walt Disney, several art universities and museums worldwide.
After Nepal, he is travelling to the Czech Republic and then Saudi Arabia. “After my tour, I am gearing up for possibly the biggest exhibition of my career in the UK. It will be my debut in the country,” he concludes.
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