Douglas de Souza
Candy Swan
Douglas de Souza (b 1984) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. He creates highly figurative, magically flamboyant oil paintings characterized by a saturated, luminous color palette that reproduces the immaculate sharpness of digital imagery. Using a collage-like approach to composition, the paintings are an amalgamation of different symbols, fantasies, pop culture icons, canonical allegories and an intimate selection of kitsch references.
Some recent work explores the themes of masculinity, power, speed, and sexuality through the use of everyday images and canonical references of Western painting. The rigid yet easily breakable surface of a porcelain knickknack, the self-fecundating shape of an anthurium's spathe and spadix, the luscious undulating neck of a glamourous swan, the virile power of the horse and the horsepower of an engine are all brought together to generate a bling-like allure that invites us to reflect on that which can be both frivolous and serious.
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