ROBERTO BATISTA’S THOUGHT-PROVOKING PASSAROLA
María de los Reyes Hernández Socorro
The graphic expression, which projects this artist’s ideas on Jose Saramago’s literary work, compels the spectator to a disturbing and vibrant gaze at each of his works, specially at those of large format. Imbued with an unequivocal subtlety and greatness they express concepts, emotions and places, being both at the same time abstract/concrete, transcendental/common, and poetic/prosaic... An evident synergy can be perceived between the subliminal messages that worry the writer and the conceptual visual art visibility that the artist confers on them. His gaze is staged from a high point of view, having as reference the evocation of the fanciful and enticing aircraft Passarola, in the shape of a bird, invented by the Jesuit Bartolomeu Lourenço de Gusmão1 (1685-1724), known pejoratively as the “flying” father: Esta cidade encontra-se divertida pelos discursos sobre uma proposta feita ao Rei um sacerdote do Brasil, vindo com as últimos naves, o qual pretende inventar nova navegação para ir às Índias sem tocar a Tramontana, porém diretamente pelo levante e ponente; e também um engenho para voar, até com dez pessoas dentro, a respeito do qual foram ouvidos os pareceres de miutos ministros e matemáticos2 Departing from Saramago’s writing, those that attract his attention most, Batista brings to life a pictorial universe defined by its deconstruction and reification. That is how Menace, Wind I, Thinking, Darkness III, Strangers II, Monotony, Revelations, God, Eternity, Remembering, Still, The road and Silence I emerged. All of these compositions, outlined with chromatic and spatial kinetic ability, represent instants and essences, in search of a yearned timelessness that could answer the individual and collective allegorical memories.
