At first glance, the dissimulated textures, the construction process and the rules of the game that the artist uses are camouflaged in Elizabeth Dorazio ́s paintings. The true object of the paintings remains ambiguous, a secret having neither right nor wrong.
The base of the canvas is white, pieces of irregularly shaped leather are mounted on it to form a giant intricate mosaic. By interlacing shapes there are only a few vague suggestions of hems in a puzzle.
The paint covers the double base, being the canvas and the leather, concealing the paint’s base. Little by little it becomes a new and almost separate piece in which lines are vaguely perceptible. The double base smoothness and raggedness, and the loud vibrant colors make up a new subject.
Immense flowers and fruit explore beautiful mattissian colors, inscribing also a sense of ambiguity which is an important part of Pop Art because the image remains cold in its magnitude. At the same time a warm brushstroke over the leather pieces subdues this coldness with velvet, displaying new dimensions to the base painting.
The splattered and the smooth colours are alternated by a bold outline that suggests recurring hem lines, although they are now almost undetectable under the layers of paint. These bold outlines don’t define any particular figure but contribute to the chaotic ambiance captured in the artwork through the use of colors, lack of form, and textures.
The beauty of the paint is that abolishes defined perspectives yet reaffirms the form. It corrodes the certainty of a privileged point of view, and questions the act of contemplation, using a strong up-front portrayal of nature that wants to be scrutinized thoroughly.
Added to this “still life” is a surprising and delicate counterpoint of words and phrases that describe the art. These are usually saturated with description, irony, and cacophony. In a similar fashion, the drawings, which are small observations produced by daily situations, reaffirm and make tangible a poetic innuendo in the suave yet sharp line between art and language.
The symbols of writing operate through a picturesque style of language using double meanings. The irregularities and irony maintain the artwork’s energy in a twisting floating game, as if questioning what is serious and what is not. And in this sense language multiplies itself indefinitely and embraces the forms of a poem by Drummond de Andrade: “This verse, merely an innuendo, embraces things without diminishing them”.
Stella Teixeira de Barros
Art Historian/ Art Critic