Armando's work is immediate, vibrant, dynamic. His work evokes a mood & atmosphere that is tangible – a basement jazz club, thick with smoke & husky voices, a cat languishing on a sun-bathed rooftop. The paintings are intensely coloured & textured, the brush strokes capturing a pause in the movement before the action continues...
He is interested in art as performance, where the models become the protagonists - a moment in time caught on the canvas. He paints at the scene – a music gig, a theatre play, a public protest. His paintings become the action:
'Interacting with the actors and the public is one of my major concerns. I like to make the theatre-goer feel like part of the performance, and sometimes make them a participant. The spectator, who goes to the theatre to observe others on stage, finds themselves the subject of scrutiny from the stage itself. By painting on stage, I am in the privileged position to observe and catalogue the experience as a whole. In this environment, I am able to bring elements of action painting to my work, painting at the speed of events as the characters and situations transform and evolve'.
Through experimentation with technologies at his immediate disposal - web cams, chat rooms, Skype - he enters the private world of his model. The initial response of a heightened self-awareness gradually disappears until the subject becomes unaware of the painters' presence. Everyday, ordinary actions become intimate glimpses of a forbidden world, an experiment in surveillance.
Armando Seijo had a traditional education at the University of Seville and has studied art in London. He currently works out of Cable Street studios in London, & has participated in several group & solo shows.
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