Even though only now Teodoro Dias (Poços de Caldas, 1954) is belatedly presenting his first individual exhibition, since 1999 he has been constructing his artistic universe with obstination. According to the curator of the exhibition, Rodrigo Naves, these are modest objects in which daily possibilities stand out. Hence the interest that the Galeria Estação has shown in housing this artist’s works in the gallery’s premises, dedicated to artists that make art out of the life around them.

According to Mr Naves, during all these years Teodoro has sought to enhance his work and was not willing to achieve fame and recognition at any cost. He participated in some collective exhibitions and waited for his work to become mature and autonomous enough, before bringing a new experience to the public.

The 40 works, including metal engravings, oil paintings and panels, as well as some objects in three dimensions, show the variety of techniques used by the artist. “Even though Teodoro Dias does indeed have incredible manual skill, I believe that the issue here is an effort to show the countless possibilities of apparently simple procedures, together with an extreme capacity to extract, from each medium, results that are not aggressive against it”, stresses the curator.

In spite of the significant use of colour, his work is based on a very simple artistic order, not unlike minimalism, while at the same time the constructions in three dimensions come close to contemporary production, as these can be manipulated by the observer, creating new proposals that go well beyond the artist’s own decisions. However, even though he is not a self-taught, and although he has several different types of artistic influence on his work, in the opinion of Rodrigo Naves the popular context is very evident in Teodoro’s works. “In these simple forms, apparently unpretentious, there is a simplicity that also brings the work closer to the basic strokes that we make when we note down, with marks, the points made in a game of cards or, more cruelly, the days spent in a prison cell or the graffiti that has been scrawled on the city walls using some sharp instrument.”

The combination of simple forms and popular practice – whether in the artistic field or not – are other significant traits present in the works of Teodoro Dias. “Teodoro has decided to create diversity based on deep familiarity with the different artistic techniques, thereby extracting from them as much as they can give, while maintaining the guiding requirements for simplicity”.