A young boy looks bashfully at the viewer, wielding a plastic toy gun with both hands. Superimposed on the image is the schematic of an actual revolver. The title of the piece, "Where have all the Fathers gone?", alludes to the lack of adult role models who might aid him in reaching adulthood, setting aside his toys for adult instruments. The fact that the instrument in question if a weapon raises the issue of whether this is a male adulthood that the boy should be pursuing. 

2010
Acrylic and solvent transfer on canvas
70 x 77cms


Where have all the Fathers gone? 3

The original image came from the 2010 Nerdcore horror-themed calendar. It drew my attention because of the obvious reference to the twins in Kubrick's The Shining. The picture dwelled on my computer for a while, becoming an unpretentious drawing in one of my notebooks. It began to take on new meanings for me around 2012. The end of a friendship brought on a light spell of depression. And in the school where I taught, I wrote about depression to a dear student who took a leave of absence for a few months to deal with the malaise. Some time later, another student asked me to write about anxiety. An issue I knew well, having spent my teenage years battling the evil. 

The more I spoke and wrote about anxiety and depression, the more I envisioned them as opposing sides of the same problem. It had to do with meaning. Anxiety as excessive meaning for everything, even the trivialities. And depression as the lack of meaning. Both were alluring conditions for teenagers. They could ambush anyone. And they were waiting, just around a corner somewhere. Like the corner Danny Torrence had turned. And they were so similar in their effects, that I dare say I knew people who mistook one for the other.  

2020
Oil on recycled paper and gesso. 
31,7 x 23cms

DSM-V

The Vampire, comes out of the river Lethe and gazes towards the city of Segra. 
The character was spawned from my experience with the London fetish community, during my masters degree in 2011. I was researching gender in art and was interested in situations of androgyny.

In April of that year, during the Easter holiday recess at the masters course, I spent 10 days travelling to Romania, to visit the castles of the real Dracula, who governed an area of the country known nowadays as Wallachia. My journey brought me to three castles. The last one of them, Castle Poenari, was close to the city of Arges. During my trip, I once again read Bram Stoker's novel at night, and the author's biography during the day.
On the following month, back to the masters course and still under the inspiration from the trip, I found an article in the free papers about an event called the Night of the Senses. An evening of awards given to performers of cabaret, fetish and the like. The biggest fetish event of the year in London. Marvelled by a culture that celebrated queerness to the point of publishing it on the free press, I decided to attend the party.
Taking into account the moment of my research in which I pondered about self-image and a videoperformance where my hair and beard had been shaven off, I rid myself of the rest of my body hair, and purchased my first pieces of fetish attire. A different persona was being conceived. One that would stick with my for the following three months, until I allowed my hair to grow back again, and went back to a time of "normality".
On the day after the party, I booked the photography studio at the university and, alone, documented this being that had just been born. Not knowing where this was going, I just wanted to preserve something of that amazing experience. 

Years later, while creating the Inner World of Teogonia, I wound up picking the Vampire as the protagonist for that story. And I chose to write it in English, so that the character's name could be written in a way that wouldn't betray its gender. 

2020
Oil on recycled paper and gesso. 
45 x 30cms


Vampire - Road to Segra

A pop-style painting of a popcorn bag, with a typo that has some viewers doing a double take and seeing more than what was originally perceived.  

2020
Acrylic on recycled paper and gesso
31 x 21cms

Cock Porn

The word "SHE" has been printed in Impact font on the recycled paper using a solvent transfer method. The initial letter has been crossed out by lines created during the paper's recycling process. The remaining letters spell out the word "HE". The piece alludes to the situation experienced by some men, where their manhood is defined not as a value in itself, but rather as the denial of anything feminine. The aggressive nature of the cancellation carried out in this piece brings to mind ideas of violence targeting women, and how it is used to assert manhood.

2021
Solvent transfer on recycled paper
35 x 73 cms

Andrometry - She American Typewriter

The painting uses the figure of softcore porn model Katerina "Monroe" Kozlova as a model for the biblical character of Salome, as she is given the head of John, the Baptist, represented by a portrait of the artist's brother, aptly named John. The composition seems to mirror Gustave Moreau's painting 
covering the same biblical story. It also draws heavily on other works that reference the same passage in various media, like the play by Oscar Wilde, the videogame by indie developer Tale of Tales and the 1988 film by Ken Russell.

2021
Oil and solvent transfer on recycled paper
100 x 60 cms

Iokanaan (featuring Katerina "Monroe" Kozlova)

A male figure protects an egg from a salvo of rocks being thrown towards it. In the effort of protecting this symbolic offspring, the male figure uses his own body as a buffer for the aggression, taking several hits while keeping the egg safe. 


2011
Videoperformance
1'30"

Father

The word "FEMALE" has been printed in Times New Roman font on the recycled paper using a solvent transfer method. The initial syllable was later cut out, leaving holes in the shape of the former letters. The excision removed the top layer of recycled paper, exposing a bottom layer. The remaining letters spell out the word "MALE". The piece alludes to the situation experienced by some men, where their manhood is defined not as a value in itself, but rather as the denial of anything feminine. The aggressive nature of the cancellation carried out in this piece brings to mind ideas of violence targeting women, and how it is used to assert manhood.

2021
Solvent transfer on recycled paper
35 x 72 cms

Andrometry - Female Times

The word "WOMAN" has been printed in Impact font on the recycled paper using a solvent transfer method. The initial syllable was later partially erased using the same solvent, leaving the smudge of the former letters, as well as the stain of the excess solvent. The erasure has caused damage to the paper. The remaining letters spell out the word "MAN". The piece alludes to the situation experienced by some men, where their manhood is defined not as a value in itself, but rather as the denial of anything feminine. The aggressive nature of the cancellation carried out in this piece brings to mind ideas of violence targeting women, and how it is used to assert manhood. 

2021
Solvent transfer on recycled paper
35 x 70 cms

Andrometry - Woman Impact

A naked toddler boy shares the composition with a small swarm of bees. The swarm is comprised only of drones, some superimposed over the boy's image. The bottom of the composition has the encyclopaedic subtitle to the image, describing it as "Fig. 1: Honey bee drone (Apis mellifera)". The title of the piece, "Where have all the Fathers gone?", is meant to allude to the fact that drone bees do not have fathers, being generated through parthenogenesis from unfertilised eggs. The connection to the toddler seems to hint at him missing a father figure as well. 

2021
Dry pastel and solvent transfer on recycled paper
46 x 35 cms

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Pedro Leão