Valter Hugo Mãe is a writer and chronicler. His books, in Portugal, have the Porto Editora seal. Among his most popular titles are the novels: "the Spanish making machine" (a máquina de fazer espanhóis) and "The son of a thousand men" (O filho de mil homens) or "Dehumanization" (A desumanização). Sporadically, he dedicates himself to plastic arts.

As a Guest Curator, Valter Hugo Mãe explains the path he took to elect this set of artworks.

To choose only a handful of artworks from the vast catalog of the Centro Português de Serigrafia, is a form of violence. The possibilities are so many that we start by dividing our heart into small pieces that suffer by neglecting more than it is alllowed to choose. So, it was my choice to be disparate, alluding to the infinity of arts, I mean, artists, original spirits that reveal themselves in their unique, sometimes weird, identities.

I could not fail to include Artur do Cruzeiro Seixas, prince of surrealism, master of elegance, the most perfect nights of the imagination, my dear friend. Along with the charming Eurico Gonçalves, with his vibrancy that seems to mature within what is still childish. And I choose Alfredo Luz, debtor of surrealism, or his excellent lover, who moves me with his figures and his palette.

I choose the fun work of Rico Sequeira, liken to canny far from being naive. Hard under the color layer. I choose a beautiful piece by José de Guimarães, who always manages to create a party in my senses, especially this one that celebrates Camões. For the Language and Literature, also the work of João Vilhena, homage to Saramago. And I end with Miguel Januário, one of the urban artists who inspire me the most, with his constant manifestations of civic inscription, not so much for politics itself but for citizenship, for the right to polis.

Valter Hugo Mãe

Photo: Ana Esteves Brandão