Moments of Juliano Lopes

Juliano Lopes creates works that combine a Renaissance perception and love for the human body with a contemporary approach to painting. The subject of his paintings is quotidian matter; casual moments in the everyday life of people are brought to our attention. A typical example is the series Feet & Books (2014) with people dressed in a rather retro style and reading books, an activity that, with the increasing use of eBooks, is becoming retro itself.

The emphasis is put on the torso, legs, hands and feet, which the artist has drawn with incredible detail; on the contrary, he paints only the outline of the heads, leaving his figures faceless and expressionless. The series entre | momentos (2011) captures moments from the everyday life of people, moments at the course of an action or moments of absolute stillness.

What is interesting is that, despite the absence of any facial characteristics, we are in a position to understand the emotional state of the people depicted. Juliano Lopes manages in his paintings to express the personality of the human figures organically, through their posture and their stance towards a given moment in their everyday life. And that is exactly what makes his works special; his ability to make visible the importance of seemingly unimportant things.

Annita Apostolaki is an art professional with an MA from Sotheby’s Institute of Art and a BA in Archaeology & History of Art. Annita is now Curatorial Assistant at the Athens Biennale and a contributing author for USEUM.