Mateu invests in the elaboration of his drawing and painting,

Improving techniques and expanding your collection of objects, and annotations

Consequently, building a large collection, obsessively.

 

It takes as a reference the things you pick up on the street,

And the things he sees out there that awaken a strong feeling of wanting to keep him.

And what cannot be picked up by hand or kept,

Because it’s too big, or it’s dirty and damaged, or because it’s a living thing,

He photographs or simply memorizes, then draws and digitizes.

A game of folding and unfolding, like someone packing and unpacking a suitcase.

In those compartments are the things he likes to remember,

Things that make you feel at home, being in Rio, or in Los Angeles,

Either in flight, or anywhere in the world.

The virtue of design is the legitimate and precious baggage.

It is with it that it can assimilate the folded world,

"Folded" in the sense of "duplicate"

"Folded" in the sense of "compacted"

Tricks a nomad needs to do on his way

After all the nomad's home is the whole world

And you need to choose the objects to be transported well.

 

And where palpable things fit - the atelier - the unfolding ritual takes place

The moment the luggage is opened

Rabbits, divers, screeching cars come out of there,

Characters in full playful activity,

With their heads exploding in arrangements

invented floras and birdhouses, shoes, and vehicles,

Archetypes that repeat themselves, rearrange themselves,

At a very light frequency,

Like those who leave their slippers by the pool

Or whoever allows themselves to relax, have a "tea"

This same lightness is used in the scenes of escape from the flood

The calm of those who see and live everything and do not let themselves be shaken.

 

Birds, fish, donuts, stairs and geometric solids

Symbols and specimens from different parts of the world,

They are in this catalog rich in details and polished corners,

Sometimes only with lines, sometimes with well-defined masses of color

This whole trip is an invitation to a dive in high definition

In this double, compact and beautiful world

World of worlds, bits, memories lived or invented.

Experiencing the possibilities of the materials,

From smoky, transparencies, to other art forms

 

Always with precision and balance, the nomad follows.

 

Fernando de La Rocque

curator