Seize your fate
For this illustration about Fado my inspiration came from still life. In blue tones, the composition imitates the typical palette of tiles painted with blue pigment. In the composition there can be noticed elements often used in this genre such as a vase of flowers, fruits, cheese, fish on the plate, a bottle and glass of wine and at the end, a skull which refers to the Vanitas, a work of symbolic art associated with the still life in the Middle Age. The Portuguese guitar and fado’s singer shawl hanging on the wall, which are characteristic elements of traditional Portuguese music, I decided to include those thus showing my personal view of the fado. The representation of still life and blue palette have melancholic tone, typical feeling of the Fado and as Vanitas have the meaning of vanity, it can be interpreted as an allusion to the meaninglessness of earthly life and the ephemerality of vanity.
The skull has a particular presence in this symbolic set because reminds us that life is short and fragile, as Fado sings.
The message I want to convey is that when I connect the life and Fado, I praise life and death because they are undoubtedly connected and the fragility of human existence is inevitably expressed through music and painting.
