Lot
Augusto Portella
The Bather
30 x 30 x 2 cm
oil on linen
signed on back
2025
"A painting of a maritime landscape with the figure of a person by the sea. It is part of the series ‘The bather‘, with more than 100 paintings produced. theme.
From a single photo of the artist, this image was worked with the help of AI software, to produce hundreds of variations of the same scene. The images generated are later painted in fine linens purchased at popular fabric stores in downtown Rio de Janeiro. When painting on very fine linen and without prior preparation for painting, the paint leaks to the back of the fabric. The image that is formed still accounts for the original composition, but becomes a combination of spots that make the painting more faded and fragmented. The verses are shown later, hiding the ‘original‘ image and revealing what was leaked through the fabric.
Like the artist, who paints practically the same scene every day, the figure of the bather exists in a narrative that does not conclude. He is always by the sea with a body that seems to be moving. With unusual poses, it is not clear what action he is acting, although he is certainly not contemplative. The narrative becomes a day that is always repeated, a gesture that is never completely completed or revealed. One day after another, every day, the same thing.
The bather brings a figure that insists on existing, performing his own wear and tear. That survives, not by heroism, but by the banal obstinacy of existence. The repetition of scenarios, bodies, gestures and actions does not suggest transformation, but a collapse of time, desire and meaning.".
From a single photo of the artist, this image was worked with the help of AI software, to produce hundreds of variations of the same scene. The images generated are later painted in fine linens purchased at popular fabric stores in downtown Rio de Janeiro. When painting on very fine linen and without prior preparation for painting, the paint leaks to the back of the fabric. The image that is formed still accounts for the original composition, but becomes a combination of spots that make the painting more faded and fragmented. The verses are shown later, hiding the ‘original‘ image and revealing what was leaked through the fabric.
Like the artist, who paints practically the same scene every day, the figure of the bather exists in a narrative that does not conclude. He is always by the sea with a body that seems to be moving. With unusual poses, it is not clear what action he is acting, although he is certainly not contemplative. The narrative becomes a day that is always repeated, a gesture that is never completely completed or revealed. One day after another, every day, the same thing.
The bather brings a figure that insists on existing, performing his own wear and tear. That survives, not by heroism, but by the banal obstinacy of existence. The repetition of scenarios, bodies, gestures and actions does not suggest transformation, but a collapse of time, desire and meaning.".
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