Original Oil Paintings Store by Tiago Azevedo
100% Hand-painted artwork - beautiful painting by Tiago Azevedo- Professional artist with 15 years in portrait art. For the artworks, the best quality canvas and oil paints are used. Each painting is unique alike your own fingerprint.
ECHO BOOMER
Tiago Azevedo: “My favorite tale by the Brothers Grimm is Cinderella” by Alexandre Lopes
On November 16th, Echo Boomer had the opportunity to be present at the launch event of the first book in Portuguese by artist Tiago Azevedo. The book The Tales of the Brothers Grimm explores the literary and visual components of the stories of the Brothers Grimm, compiling oil paintings in a format in which it was possible to transmit the literary component of the work of the Portuguese painter, in this case, ten of the stories of the Brothers Grimm.
During the launch event, we had the opportunity to talk a little with this young painter, author, and architect about what led him to create this book and his wishes for the future.
Echo Boomer (EB) - Who is Tiago Azevedo?
Tiago Azevedo (TA) - Look, I would like Tiago Azevedo to be remembered as a person who decided to follow his passion. I started studying architecture when I decided to pursue a profession. Of course, this was what society perceived as a career. A better career. However, it was not quite what I wanted since I always had a passion for the arts.
I was an architect for eight years. Then it got to a certain point where I moved to another country, more specifically to Germany, because there were very interesting job opportunities, but I still had the same unhappiness. This came from personal dissatisfaction. And I needed to make a personal and professional change. That's when I decided to start making the transition between architecture and painting.
It was a two-year process in which I worked as an architect and painter until painting took on proportions that took over my life. That's how I see myself, a person who followed his passion.
EB - How did the idea to conceive this book come about?
TA - I have always been passionate about the fantastic, for tales and fables. And when I was in Germany, I was immersed in all that German folklore. I grew more and more enthusiastic about the Brothers Grimm stories and that's why I decided to compile ten of their stories in this book. I had as main objective to maintain its original nature. These are darker and more haunting stories, but I made a point of maintaining originality and, with my paintings, bringing them to life.
The paintings may have that darker character, but this also has to do with my painting style that is part of pop surrealism, that is, the mixture of classical painting techniques from the height of the Baroque to the present day with contemporary concepts. And the physiognomy that you see in my characters is something that, today, we can see on the cover of a magazine.
EB - What was the catalyst moment when you chose to follow oil painting, to the detriment of architecture?
TA - That's when I realized that I could go anywhere in the world and that, if I didn't change professionally, I would always feel the same. Therefore, to achieve this change that I so desired, I needed to change professionally and follow my true passion.
EB - And internationalization, has it always been a dream?
TA - Yes, I always wanted that. It is like that, I believe a lot in social networks and I have always been interested in this world. From the beginning, from my first paintings, for example, I always had the notion that I needed to have a strong presence on social networks so that my work could have some projection because if nobody saw it, it would not have any impact. So, my goal was to be able to alert people to follow their dreams, their passion. And I can only do that if I have a voice, however small.
EB - What are your inspirations as an artist? Any dreams you want to fulfill?
TA - It is mainly Baroque. I have always used this style in my paintings. When it comes to artists, I am inspired by Benjamin Lacombe and Mab Graves. They are contemporary artists who paint a lot in the style of surrealist pop. As for dreams, I have many… At the moment I want to expose and continue to expose in as many places as possible. For example, next year I will exhibit in Hong Kong. In the short term, I also want to release my second book.
EB - In view of the book's release, what is your favorite tale by the Brothers Grimm?
TA - My favorite story is Cinderella, without a doubt. And as soon as I started to paint, I felt it too.
EB - Compared to other countries, do you think Portugal is a fan of painting? Does this end up influencing your work in any way?
TA - It is like that, I think that all countries have their characteristic, their own art. As for Portugal, I think it has been gaining more and more fans in this art, especially now. I sincerely hope that it is an art that continues to grow and gain space in Portuguese culture. In my case, as I said earlier, we can build our international career if we so wish. Of course, what you take from your country will always influence the way you work. In this case, we may even have less visibility, but with the Internet and social networks, we can increase the dimension of our career.
EB - Is the launch of this book in Portuguese, and, consequently, its presentation in Portugal, reflected by the fact that you are Portuguese? What was your motivation?
TA - The launch of this book has to do with the fact that I felt that I was careless about my country, my country, my motherland. So, I felt the need to come here to make this release. This book has also been translated into English and is ready to be published in that language. Once the necessary statistics for the success of this book have been reached, which I think will be reached soon, it will be translated into German and Spanish. In other words, despite being and coming to be available in other languages, I made a point of creating it first in Portuguese and presenting it in my country.
EB - Is there any other art that you would like to mix with painting, besides what you have been doing until now?
TA - Sculpture, perhaps in the near future, and relief. I must start combining and exploring these aspects briefly, but always with my style.
EB - Is there a place in the world where you would like to exhibit your works and that you still did not have the opportunity to do so?
TA - Now I'm focused on Hong Kong and the Asian market because they bet a lot on merchandising. Screens, cell phone cases, pillows, etc., are things that have been flowing to Asia a lot. I have a great curiosity to go there in person and see the acceptance that my art has in the Asian market.
EB - What work are you most proud of?
TA - The Queen and the Frog. It was the one that gave the least amount of work to do and it seems that it did itself. However, it is always the one that has the most impact on me and the one that conveys the most emotion. Sometimes, the works that seem more complicated and that focus only on the subject are the works that give more work because the subject has the whole responsibility to transmit the emotion. The Queen and the Frog have frogs and crowns, for example, and that has so much detail that it lives on itself and conveys everything that I want to share with one image.