Pé-Leve, João
Portugal, 1908 - 1998
João Pé-Leve, a person of humble origins, used rudimentary and simple materials and had painting as one of the main occupations in his life. This style of artistic expression is markedly individualistic in its purest manifestations, although it is almost always possible to discover their source of inspiration in popular iconography and, generally, their work tells a story, portrays a scene, a landscape, an interior, a character, a memory, an everyday event, a historical event and is characterized, in general terms, by an apparent simplicity and by the author’s freedom to relate or disaggregate, at his pleasure, certain elements considered formal, the lack of perspective , the deregulation of the composition, the meticulous detailing of the figures and scenes, the unreality of the facts or the application of exuberantly colorful palettes. His art generally expresses joy, happiness, spontaneity and complex imagery, sometimes resulting in a seemingly unbalanced but always very suggestive beauty.
