Dario Alves (1940) - Pinte você mesmo

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

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

Colored silkscreen 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 YOURSELF,” a photographically originated feminine image treated by silkscreen and a brush that extends across the blank space of the sheet. The inclusion of the three-dimensional object turns the print into a hybrid work, located between screen printing, 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 observer bring the work closer to Pop art, although it also presents a strong conceptual and metalinguistic dimension about the very act of painting.

Dario Alves was born in Torre de Moncorvo in 1940. He graduated in Painting from the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes do Porto, where he later taught and chaired the Board. He has shown since 1972 and participated in the founding of Group 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.

It 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 Modern Art Museum 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 Yourself,” numbered 14/200, is part of the collection of the Gulbenkian Modern Art Center 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 presented in Stockholm in 1988.

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

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