Hildebrando de Melo

From the civil-war-torn country of Angola in West Africa, emerges Hildebrando de Melo(HM), a twenty-nine-year-old artist who has the unique ability to render a painting that is complex in its simplicity.  Restraint dictates his style.  It is this moderation, both in terms of color and line, however, that prolongs the viewer’s attention. 

Even though there are many lines converging within a single work, the plain, oftentimes white, backgrounds provide plenty of open space in Hildebrando de Melo’s paintings.  This paradox means that the paintings have an overall feeling of energetic minimalism.  At the same time, the humanistic affectation of the lines makes them resemble cave drawings or rock engravings.  Each painting features a central “character,” a brown line in the shape of an abstract stick-figure that symbolizes God (Vorax) and dominates the canvas.  All other lines and markings may be more colorful, in bright yellow, orange, or blue, but they act as accents to the larger figure at hand.  As such, Hildebrando de Melo’s paintings are full of animation without overpowering the senses.