Before the Light, there was... well, there wasn’t. Even the concept of darkness could not exist without light. Light is the beginning and the end of everything, not to mention the middle. In art, light can be the theme, the medium, the strategy, the problem or the solution...anything basically, and everything in some cases. For Albano Afonso light is the source and the result of his output. In the scene since the 1990s, his artworks are illuminated both by his talent and by his technique.

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Lights. Camera. Action. Not necessarily in that order. In the work of Albano Afonso, it is common to have the opposite: actions will be the focus of the camera and the outcome is, as usual, light. Mostly through photography, projections, installations and interventions, Afonso explores the many formats light can take in artworks. Afonso revisits historical works from Old Masters, such as Caravaggio and Delacroix, imputing a new perspective to masterpieces of Western art history. He experiments with different methods of self-portraits, analyzes the anatomy of light, “makes stars”, creates constellations, and illuminates forests. The artist manipulates the untouchable, and constantly alters the borders between light and dark.

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Afonso is an illusionist. He makes the public believe in a reality that is as solid as light. His tricks can make some things brighter, hide others in the shadows and transform images in the blink of an eye. Some of the environments with projections and panels are invitations to traverse the milky way, there is no weight to carry over here; things feel and look lighter. However, the whole situation can also change at the speed of light: colors, tones and figures can take other shapes in the next room, in a whole different work. Nowadays, Afonso’s influences vary from Olafur Eliasson to Cildo Meireles, and it is also possible to notice some shades of Yayoi Kusama and Vik Muniz in his pieces as well. Everything can be reinterpreted; all is needed is to see things with a new light.

 

Albano Afonso paints and molds with light, he switches it on and off and is not afraid to leave the viewer in the dark: the ones who learn the way out of the tunnel are able to see things more clearly afterwards. While playing this game of hide-and seek, Afonso challenges the audience to see the contrasts inside the chambers, and also, outside the gallery. Under the Brazilian sun, it is well known that everything is not what it seems to be. For in this light, blindness is a state of mind, and when it comes to that reality, it is just a matter of turning up the dimmer. Lighten up, and Let there be Light.

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In Brussels, Albano Afonso made a photograph installation with aluminum mirrors and perforated photographs taken and cut by himself. The images are from Inhotim, a contemporary art institute in Minas Gerais where art and natural environment coexist. The viewer is reflected on the mirror placed behind the holes on the photographs, and therefore, the final image is a mix of collage and participation: the public is projected into a forest miles away from the work. The artist momentarily creates the documentation of an event that never truly happened.