{-1 + 0} = 2 Painting

THE ART IS SIMPLY WHAT ONE FEELS I first saw Nando's work as I was working on an order from Elle Magazine that was willing to write chronicles of his exhibition at the Modern Mix Gallery in Toulouse, in December 2007. Going through his work of pastel, I discovered the work of a young hardworking man whose sensitive stroke to the beauty of curves was going counter-current the pictorial tendencies of the moment. Writing on the realizations of an artist is not an easy task, and even more so when you were never given the opportunity to "physically" meet the painter. Nevertheless, I found in the orginality of his canvas, mingled with the precision of the curves and the harmonious matrimony of the colours, rich enough material to write on my sheet. Later, as he was telling me about the different stages of his artistic career, Nando was giving me several useful key points in the apprehension of his work. Furthermore, his background, getting experience in several countries, his instinctive approach of pastel since his adolescence as well as his fear copying and re-copying from other creators are to be considered as many constituent pieces of his graphical jigsaws. He admits that each of his paintings contains a part of his past and present emotions, he although claims the non-existence of topics or any specific link between them. Thus, he paints according to his mood and the color becomes the privileged witness of his sentimental variations. We are spectators of this exercise but we read out of the random rosaceous and the sidelong shapes, a particular world. And it is, I think, the strength of Nando's canvas; They are all very personal, but look like each of us. To me, what I guess from these lignes, dreamlike sights where mixed race faces mingle and kiss. It is my interpretation, guess your own.. Jean-Luc Feixa - June 2009, independent journalist - Elle magazine collaborator...