"The Hours and their Forms"

The Hours and their Forms This serie of photographs presentes the forms shaped by the passage of the sunlight on ‘Casa dos Bicos’. Due to the stone becks which ornament its facade, a variety of abstract pattern can be perceived. Casa dos Bicos (1523) is an unique building establishing the presence of the Italian Renaissance architectural design in Lisbon. The decision for treating these fotos in B&W carries the intention to approximate the result to Op Art. Escher-like I dare say, despite all the contradictions: while Escher, in some of his Works, utilized natural figures – birds, fishes, landscapes – as elements in his patterns; here, figuratively, it is as if the Sun, while in a man-made environment, creates patterns using – triangles, trapezes, squares – man-made forms. Though some of them can suggest birds, airplanes, drums, many things, they all resemble origamis, man-made elements. The purpose of exploring optical illusion is also an important trace in these photos. A more ‘naturalized’ Op Art, less cerebral, once it comes as a result of sunlight, a combination of light, hue of grays, and my approach to it. Oscar Dourado