Samba E Amor—acrylic paint, gouache, and collage on archival Arches paper—is presented and sold with a white mat (passe-partout).
The title of the work is inspired by the track "Samba E Amor" by Bebel Gilberto. The dimensions of the collage are 32 x 32 cm; the total size, including the mat, is 50 x 50 cm.
"Samba e Amor" is a song by Chico Buarque (1968), covered by Bebel Gilberto on her album Tanto Tempo (2000).
The song links creation with passion.
Heat and cold: the oranges and reds represent warmth and energy—amor (love). The deep blues evoke the night, melancholy, and the saudade that permeates both bossa nova and samba. The piece encompasses both, and the painting brings them face to face.
The tear: the ragged, torn edges of the blue sections constitute the work’s most expressive gesture. They speak to fragility, to a wound—to what lies beneath the celebration. In Buarque’s work, the lightness of samba often conceals a deeper gravity; the tear makes this visible.
The rhythm: the juxtaposed vertical strips suggest a pulse—a succession of strong beats. The lines at the bottom, irregular and slightly "out of tune," evoke the syncopation characteristic of samba.
The collage and its geometric architecture draw inspiration from Brazilian constructive abstraction, a movement I particularly admire.