João Paulo Feliciano

“Artistic thinking embeds most of what I do, but my modus operandi is not exclusively that of an artist”. This quotation seems to sum up the productive force behind the work of João Paulo Feliciano, visual artist, musician, designer, artistic promoter and cultural manager, among multiple activities. By trying to re-connect art and life, cultivating popular culture, and by bringing different artistic languages within independent and complementary margins and fields of creative production together, this artist’s work totally fulfils the expanded space that the word multimedia comprehends.

João Paulo Feliciano has always explored the limits and possible interferences between the nature of artistic languages and different aspects of urban popular culture. Either when these shape contemporary attitudes and life styles, namely those based on experimental manifestations of design or music, or when they result from a proposed intersection between art and a particular concept of community.

One of multiple activities, that Feliciano does is music projects. His music projects include the bands Tina and the Top Ten and No Noise Reduction. Both performed extensively throughout Portugal in varied venues and opened for the legendary avant-garde rock band Sonic Youth in Lisbon. Feliciano's artwork would later be used as an alternate cover for Sonic Youth's Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star.

Talking about exhibitions, one of my favourite solo exhibition of João Paulo Feliciano is “Music lessons ”, which was shown in 2008.
In 2009 this exhibition also came to Lithuania and was shown together with Laura Garbštienės exhibition.

One more famous João Paulo Feliciano exhibition/project is „The Blues Quartet“.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tetl3VzUmvA

It is a sound and light sculpture-installation exploring the crossover between aural and visual art. Four different lamps stand upright on the corners of a table-stage. On top of the table-stage, two planes of dark blue transparent perspex intersect to divide the space in four. The four lights blink in response to the sound of music playing, creating reflections, transparencies and juxtapositions; a bewildering choreography of light, colour and sound. To understand, how good was this work, I suggest to watch the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=276M7ppwDes

I think this is not all what João Paulo Feliciano can do. Interesting how this artist will surprise us more.