| Luis Geraldes | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Luis Pereira Geraldes |
| Born | May 15, 1957 Lisbon, Portugal |
| Field | Painting, Drawing, Sculpture |
| Training | Institute of Art and Design, Lisbon |
Luis Pereira Geraldes (born May 15, 1957), is a contemporary metaphysical Portuguese artist. He is more widely known for his oil painting although he has produced a vast amount of sculpture and drawing. His art can be labelled as metaphysical or spiritual. He has also produced a lengthy mural in Sydney which is on public display in the suburb of Petersham.
Geraldes was born in 1957 and went to the African country of Angola when he was about 3 years of age. He spent most of his childhood and adolescent years there but in 1975 he had to flee the country as a refugee due to a the terrifying civil war. His long stay in Angola seems to have affected his style of art and he did indeed start painting when he was a boy.
He migrated to Australia in 1985. He became an Australian citizen in 1987 and has taught art and design at Footscray Institute of TAFE from 1988 and RMIT (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) from 1991. From 1995, he was at the Central Gippsland Institute.
He now paints full time and regularly travels between Europe and Australia.
Geraldes is more famous for his oil painting. His style has dramatically changed over the years and we can see how Australian art has influenced his style.
His early interest in esotericism and spirituality can also be seen as a prime factor in his subject matter, painting geometric patterns involving cosmic imagery and symbolism of universal significance. In some of his works the use of the chakra colors can be seen. In his book, Visions of the Esoteric Power, he asserts his belief that "art, science, and the spiritual do not exist in isolation".
He is exploring the 3rd dimension of human beings in relation to the spiritual Universe. There are four levels of movement in Geraldes works; EARTH, AIR, WATER and FIRE. All of them relate back to the beginning of mankind. Luis follows a two-dimensional path to the inner self by stating in his works the two levels of AIR, and EARTH, which are the most basic levels of man's existence. He then proceeds to lay over the emotions, which men carry within themselves. He uses the blues and greens of water and the warm colours for fire creating a feeling of completeness or as an ordered whole. Superimposed on that, Geraldes states the mystical or religious forms from the past and present. By this last statement he puts men in a total form of relationship to the four signs of water, air, fire and earth. Geraldes is able to put down his innermost involvement in life.
Geraldes' works are represented in the Haifa Museum of Modern Art, Israel, the Contemporary (Chiado) Art Museum and Caixa Geral de Depósitos Art Bank Museum in Lisbon, Portugal, and other important private and government art collections in many countries.