Interview with Add Fuel

Tell us about how you got to where you are now.

I have a degree in graphic design and have always felt confortable drawing. In 2006, I decided it would be interesting to exploe my work with drawing and that is how the illustration Project "Add Fuel to the FIre" was born. A years later with one eye on the past and the other on the futre, and with a body of work with a stronger focus on artistic and author pieces, the "Add Fuel" Project came to be born.

How and when did you start exploring yourself creatively through drawing?

There are certain projects that can change the course of work of an artist – sometimes without the artist himself realizing it. In my case, it started with the invitation to create something for my city, Cascais. It made me think a lot about what it meant to be from Cascais, what it represented to me – but, most of all, it made me think about how I could create a connection between my work, my town and my country. I was thinking about tradition and culture, connecting my work to the creative expression of the traditional Portuguese tile – which is something so intrinsic to us as Portuguese people. This project was very defining of who I am.

What was your starting point and inspiration behind the work you developed for Monarte? What did your creative process look like?

I wanted to create a light repetition that could let the backgrounf and shape elements breathe well. Bue was an obvious pick for a breezy and feminine item of clothing. I think that, in a way, it takes us directly to a Spring of another time. If you go a little closer you can see bees and flowers, representing the beauty of pollination.

The "Blue Spring" Monarte Piece

Add Fuel’s work reinvents the essence of the Portuguese tile art, using its patterns to turn it into something new. Mixing elements of illustration like bees polinating flowers, he created a light, breezy print that, although it feels current, could also fit in a Spring seaon in the distant past.