Alto foge o céu

José Augusto Castro was born in 1962 in Vila Nova de Gaia. He took his degree in Plastic Arts / Painting, from the School of Fine Arts (ESAP), Oporto. He attended Lithography and Etching workshop at the École de Beaux Arts, Liége, Belgium. He currently is a Visual Art teacher. Since 1990 he has held 15 solo exhibitions and more than 25 group exhibitions in Portugal and abroad.

“I draw things that I know. Then, I paint all over them.
I draw again, now using my other hand. Now, blindfolded.
I make, unmake and remake.
I do not seek an implicit intention.
I want lightness… Free from the tyranny of order and reason.
I fail. Most of my paintings fail before they succeed.
They were so many other colours, so many other things, before being what they are.
Probably, they are reborn in different paintings, so that they can breathe on their own.
I constantly change my mind… The painting and I!
When everything is too organized, I need to disorganize, to find chaos, to disorder, to cover, to paint again, to scratch, to turn upside down.
Unmake! Remake!
Start all over again.
I make one and another, I repeat and repeat until I find myself seduced. I seek my goal and the beauty that I need.
I draw things I don’t know what they really are!”
- José Augusto Castro