art 艺术

a tree with a nest and the egg

I believe that art is what artificial intelligence cannot do (by now): look at reality in a different way... and find a new meaning. It's not creativity, that's easy for the AI. It's related with instinct. And it is vital for survival.

Before the pandemic I lived in China, I had a big studio, and did big and heavy artworks. Now I live nomad, my studio is a cheap laptop and my artworks are NFTs on the blockchain. It doesn't matter. What matters for me is the ability to see the World differently.

For Peter Pan, a bat, a glove and a ball are not a baseball set.

That's why he is not afraid of the AI.

That's why he can fly.

Interstellar Heart

a low-earth orbit around 24 emotional micro-territories

In 2022 I spent a few months living in Batumi, Georgia, on the shores of the Black Sea, very close to the war in Ukraine.

On the large concrete esplanade next to the Alphabet Tower I spent several days looking for heart shapes on the ground: scratches, blows, remains of metal anchors, wear and tear on the cement where grass begins to grow, oil stains or tar from ships...

From my findings I selected 24 hearts, guarding the DNA of a culture 24 hours a day.

Lighthouses in the storm. On the edge of a war.

Interstellar Heart. Programmable NFT.This work -among others- was in the Async platform: "dynamic, interactive NFTs that change over time". The NFT changed every hour in a cicle of 24 hours, so that a person in New York, another in Berlin and another in Shanghai looking at this NFT on the screen at the same moment, would see a different image.

Diversity Ocean

Several years ago I was in Portugal, in Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point of the European continent. From the surrounding cliffs I took many photos that I later used in China for an installation, with a phrase from Sun Tzu's The Art of War: "There is no fixed pattern in the use of war tactics, just there is no constant form in the flow of water".

Later, in 2021, I spent a few months during the pandemic growing vegetables in a garden near Cabo da Roca again, and I took again more photos that I used for some works in Async art, and other series on differences and diversity. Using letters from different world alphabets connecting oceans, cultures, races and minorities.

Sun Tzu, The Art of War: "There is no fixed pattern in the use of war tactics, just there is no constant form in the flow of water"

(this project from several years ago seems to me to be more relevant in the World we live in today)

A - asexual

Letter a, (α), Alpha, Greek alphabet

B - believer

Letter b, (书), Shū, Chinese (means book, letter, document; writings)

C - countryless

Letter c, (څ), Hah, Arabic alphabet

Installations

For the Wuxi Museum I prepared an exhibition of several installations for the different rooms. The museum director changed and the exhibition was suspended. Then I had to go to a TV series shoot in southern China for a few months and my installation project was permanently stopped, but it is still one of my favorite projects: each installation is a statement of something in which I -still- believe.

I am Peter Pan

Modified baseball bate (wood), glove and ball, support circle in metal

I am an actor

Barber pole (working) and oil painting, copy of Goya, “El actor Isidoro Máiquez”, 1807, with inclined bands alternating black and white and color.

I am a Sagittarius

Reproduction of a meteorite stone, ancient Iranian arrow in metal.

I am a sleepy dog

Oil painting, copy of Goya “Carlos III in Hunting Costume” , (Ca. 1788), little angels in metal with acrilic red paint.

I am my friend, I am my enemy

Antique wall clocks, toothed blades (saw disk), tree trunks.

I am a bell, not a flower

Ancient bells, rope.

I am a mirage

Oil painting on canvas mounted on aluminum and framed.

Actors acting

Revival, developed by EMOGI Team, is the first major multi-chain aggregated NFT marketplace on IOST. In 2021 they proposed me to represent my work, so I prepared new works using Peking Opera masks but this time in digital, like NFTs. The series are already sold in the REVIVAL market, and I started to prepare a new series about acting. Unfortunately, a few weeks later, China's censorship against cryptocurrencies seriously affected Revival, which was based in Singapore and had a vast majority of clients from China.

Articles in MEDIUM, Revival, "The Official Blog of the 1st Major NFT Marketplace on IOST".

The spanish artist Dalí, made with 4.000 Chinese Opera masks

The spanish artist Goya, made with 3.800 Chinese Opera masks

The spanish artist Picasso, made with more than 3.600 Chinese Opera masks

metaStories

I am a Western actor playing roles in Chinese movies; I did these series of artworks with Chinese actors (Chinese Opera masks) playing roles in a Western movie. I started working with masks from the Peking Opera in China, while working on films I made my exhibitions with large and heavy works, with thousands of pieces produced in ceramics in kilns in Jingdezhen, the world capital of ceramics, according to my designs.

In the Peking Opera (18th century) the color of the mask denotes character: a red face means courage and bravery; a white face is a treacherous and evil man, or a green face reveals surly obstinacy and lack of self-control…

The NFTs I made -in digital- are 32.000+ actors playing micro-stories inside a Western story (stories inside the story, “metastories”). Personally, I like that this series connects East and West, unites Opera, Film, and Digital art, and links the 18th to the 21st century.

PNG, 8K, 7680x4320 píxeles.

some shows

China is where I have worked the most on my art projects, while also playing roles in movies. Most of my projects are related to "identity", to the concept of "person", a word that comes from Latin and which means "actor's mask, role".

To fix the masks I used small porcelain "chopsticks" that were strung on a large panel (as if it were acupuncture).

Each of the 8 characters -8 mask colors- is a different personality and behavior in the traditional Peking Opera. But to form these works each "actor" was chosen for his color (the mask), not for his "character", the same as today actors are often chosen for a role by the number of followers in their social networks, not by their talent and character.

The works were very heavy and delicate to transport since they had thousands of pieces in porcelain.

Jingdezhen - Creative Cities Network - UNESCO

Solo Exhibition. Oasis Gallery. Dongguan, China. 中国东莞绿洲画廊个展。

Group exhibition. Wuxi, China. 中国无锡联展。

Exhibition "Jae Felipe & Feng Yu". Oasis Gallery. Dongguan, China

Solo Exhibition. UATown, The Place. Beijing, China. 中国北京世贸天阶UATown画廊个展。

Solo exhibition. Sala Croma (closed now). Cáceres, Spain. 西班牙卡塞雷斯Sala Croma个展。

Teaching Art and Creativity at Suzhou Art & Design Technology Institute. Suzhou University. China. Exhibition with my students. 曾任教于中国苏州大学苏州艺术与设计技术研究所，主讲艺术和创造力。曾于中国苏州与学生一起办过联展。

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