My Story
My name is Telmo GUERRA.
I was born in 1974 in Covilhã-Portugal, a country where art is part of its history.
My desire to create started when I was a child and when I was 10 years i started with acrylic painting.
During my evolutionary process as an artist, I also often used enamel paint (used mainly to paint metals) because of the influence of “Pollock”, an artist I really appreciate.
In the year 2000 I started the first engravings in bas-relief but always in a very sporadic way. In 2012 I emigrated to Switzerland and this change in my life influenced all my artistic work so I say that ‘’ fortunately in 2012 I emigrated and found my way’’.
In 2012, I moved to Switzerland and started making bas-relief engraving. During this time, I explored different engraving techniques and evolved as artist.
I like to do engraving because it was with this ancient art form that ‘Man’ began to write his story in caves. I intend to use the same ancient form of art to “leave memories of our present time to be recorded in the future”.
I believe that in engraving there is a visual poetry impossible to be reproduced in any other form of art. Perhaps because it is associated with “Primitive Man” and is seen as a “brute” form of art.
I mainly “engrave portraits” because I believe that a portrait is more capable of “disturbing” us. But what I want is to combine the face with elements of “Portuguese culture”, namely the Portuguese Cross or Cross of the Order of Christ and the motifs of Portuguese tiles because they are “elements” of history and with them a can represent my country in my pieces.
The Portuguese Cross was created during the reign of D. Dinis in 1317 and is one of the most important Portuguese symbols with over 700 years of history. It represents who “I am” and where I come from. It was with this “Cross” that the Portuguese “navigators” discovered new “worlds”.
The tiles and their motifs are part of Portugal’s heritage, engraving their motifs is talking about my roots.
I like the intellectual process of engraving because through this form of art the invisible becomes visible. By eliminating visible matter, the invisible becomes visible. Like a sculpture, a shape is already present in the object; the artist only needs to remove layers to reveal the true shape.
I work on pretty much all kinds of material. From glass to wood, iron, concrete, ceramics, stone, etc.
I often use doors to create my works, because a ‘’Door’’ represents hope, opportunities, new beginnings and transformation.
It represents the opening of new possibilities and challenges in the future. When one door closes, another one opens, because there is always one door to open.
I want to convey with the use of a door, is a new opportunity, a new beginning, a new opportunity, a new challenge…
Another material I use frequently is ceramics due to the tradition of Portuguese tiles. The ceramic is a material extremely resistant that does not degrade over time, which allows you to create an “eternal piece” … We are not eternal, but perhaps by creating we obtain a form of eternity.
