Bento Oliveira - A Poetic Celebration of Nature

Bento Oliveira, a painter, sculptor, and engraver, was born on the Island of Santo Antão, in the archipelago of Cape Verde. He began his artistic journey with his early drawings. He obtained a degree in Fine Arts in the Amazon (Brazil) and returned to Cape Verde in 2002, where he has been working as a teacher and as Visual Arts advisor for the Ministry of Culture.

His work blends the human, earthly, and cosmic dimensions, always connected to the geographical territory to which he belongs, and encompassing a strong spiritual aspect: "I cultivate what can be called transcendence, what goes beyond appearance, which is energy, communication, and feeling."

The current woodcuts, with a refined and calligraphic style, with a strong presence of blacks, connoting drama and sensuality, poetically and symbolically celebrate the earthy, vegetal, and animal world of his origins.

Maria João Fernandes - International Association of Art Critics (AICA)