Dario Alves (1940) - Pinte você mesmo - hors commerce

Dario Alves (1940) - “Paint It Yourself” - Serigraphy and mixed media H.C. VII/XXX - 1982

“Paint It Yourself,” original graphic work by Portuguese artist Dario Alves, created in 1982.

Color serigraphy and mixed media on paper, incorporating a real brush applied to the composition. Signed and dated “Dario Alves, 1982” in the lower right corner and identified in the lower left corner as hors commerce proof H.C. VII/XXX — exemplar VII of a special edition of XXX proofs reserved for the artist, publisher or collaborators, parallel to the commercial edition.

The composition presents, at the top, the phrase “PAINT IT YOURSELF,” a photographic-origin female image treated serigraphically, and a brush that extends through the empty space of the sheet. The inclusion of the three-dimensional object transforms the print into a hybrid work, situated between serigraphy, collage, and the artistic object.

The appropriation of an image derived from the mass media, the use of text resembling an advertising slogan, the irony of the title, and the suggested participation of the viewer bring the work closer to Pop Art, although it also features a strong conceptual and meta-artistic dimension about the act of painting itself.

Dario Alves was born in Torre de Moncorvo in 1940. He studied Painting at the Porto School of Fine Arts, where he later taught and chaired the Board. He has exhibited since 1972 and participated in the founding of Grupo Puzzle in 1976. His production is characterized by the dialogue between painting, drawing, photographic image, objects, advertising language, humor, and references to the mass media universe.

He is represented in important public and institutional collections, including the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, the Serralves Museum, the Soares dos Reis National Museum, the Cupertino de Miranda Foundation, the University of Porto, and the Lund National Museum of Modern Art in Sweden. The artist is also referenced in the Dictionary of Portuguese Painters and Sculptors by Fernando de Pamplona, and in other specialized works.

A copy of the commercial edition of “Paint It Yourself,” numbered 14/200, is part of the collection of the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre and cataloged as mixed media on Fabriano paper. The work participated in the exhibition “Contemporary Portuguese Printmaking 1970–1988,” organized by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and shown in Stockholm in 1988.

The work shows natural aging of the paper, yellowing, and scattered acid stains, more evident at the margins and in the lower area. Frame with minor signs of use.

Artist: Dario Alves
Title: Paint It Yourself
Date: 1982
Technique: Color serigraphy and mixed media on paper, with brush application
Style: Pop art
Edition: H.C. VII/XXX
Signature: Signed and dated in pencil
Country of origin: Portugal
Dimensions with frame: 70 × 52 cm
Visible dimensions without frame: 65.5 × 47.5 cm
Frame: Included