Lucas Arruda

Lucas Arruda produces detailed and contemplative oil paintings that muddy the boundaries between memory and imagination. Instead of representing specific geographic locations, his expressive landscapes are born out of a particular state of mind, coming into fruition by converging memories of sites previously visited, vistas dreamed of, or perhaps seen in a film. As Arruda explains, rather than a real place, the idea of landscape serves as a structural foundation for his artwork. Part fiction, part reality, these dreamy paintings beckon viewer’s attention, with their cloudiness perhaps instigating recollections of their own. The fluid, amorphous style of Arruda’s brushstrokes echoes the watery worlds of painters such as Claude Monet or J.M. W. Turner, but Arruda’s chosen palette and selection of South American fauna places his work in a distinctly Brazilian context.