Mural

July 2017


Time lasped video of Solar Patterns at the Centro Juvenil de Montemor-o-Novo

Interview with Portuguese artist, dAM

There’s such strong unity between the rhythm of shapes and colors in this mural, would you like to talk about this interaction?

My drawings are composed of different shapes and colors that enter into harmony with each other and form an idea of unity which the observer can see from different points of view, thus creating different realities within the same design, as when we look at clouds or trees and their shapes suggest other things to us. The intention is to convey the idea that, through the separation of ego, humans have created what’s observed in the material realm as opposed to the unity of the energetic realm. This is what I think we begin to progressively see that, despite our differences in the material realm, as we recognize ourselves more and more in each other, we see energetically that we’re all in constant emotional change and that we don’t have a fixed character. In recognizing our unity and infinity, we also discover the power that thought has and how it affects our reality in the material realm, thus becoming aware of the connection between the microcosm and the macrocosm, whether observer and observed or creator and creation. I also want to show the importance that the imagination has because it’s as real as what we observe in the material realm; the difference is that it serves as a tool to recreate what already exists. In noticing this, we begin to become more careful with how we interact with everything and concern ourselves with reflecting on what we really want and what makes us happy in contributing to a whole.

True imagination, like the Initiates to be conceived and, with a qualified work, can be defined as a sort of canvas, there is no boundary between the visible and invisible worlds, where there are the images and entities that habitually escape our consciousness. The man knows how to work his thoughts and feelings, he has been able to purify such a point of his psyche that his imagination will become clear, a pure transparency … and he has exhibited a “seeing” in the subtle worlds. At that level, imagination and vision are one thing. 

~ Artistic creation and spiritual creation – Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov

You speak about imagination as a tool to recreate what already exists. Can you expand on this?

Imagination serves to recreate what already exists, first, because in my artwork I search for images already existent, usually of ancient art or other things like animals, and I make photomontages, or I simply recreate them as we can see in this image:

But it turns out to be much deeper, not only in the creation of art with recycled things that we don’t use anymore, but also at a level of magic. For example, once I did a song, and in the lyrics there was a phrase that said “in a drumming of heart beats accompanied by a dragon.” Over the course of the days I was walking around and felt images of dragons being projected in my experience, not as if I were simply imagining a dragon, but as an external force. Later I dreamed of a dragon. I was in my house in the country, and this dragon was composed of floral ornaments as if it were part of the landscape. A few days passed. Again, it was night, and it was time for me to go to bed, and in my bedroom when I turned out the light, was a dragon right there made of ether (non-physical matter) emitting a red mist. It was the first time I’d seen a dragon in a form that seemed real. I had previously seen other magical beings, but without having written music about them.  But I think that in this case the law of attraction reflected a good result.

You begin this mural by defining the space with precise black lines. Are they meant to be boundaries? To set the tone for investigation and dialogue? To trigger patterns of thoughts, of imagery? To map out specific arenas where you’d like the viewer to venture?

Yes, they are supposed to be like outline lines. Firstly, I drew on the paper and afterwards in digital format. To begin the mural, I used a projector and charcoal, then finished with different colors, all this with the intention of making the observer capture a kind of maze where different camouflaged entities are to be found, because if we give attention to it, we can see that there are faces and eyes scattered around the drawing.

The audio track works really well with the mural’s evolving rhythm. As faces/eyes/entities come into focus, I feel like perhaps there’s a conversation going on with & among these sounds, individually & collectively.  How do you see this interplay between the music and images?

I believe it to be a good song for the different entries of the mural’s phases in the time lapse. I like the music because it does not transmit perceptible language, but rather melodic vocals giving an idea that the entities come from a realm of magic or another dimension where they do not speak our language, but they don’t necessarily abdicate an understanding between them and the observer.

What’s the situation around painting murals in & around Montemor-o-Novo? What projects will you will be working on next? 

Around Évora I went there to study at the High School and University. There you found some people doing graffiti, but in Montemor-o-Novo, practically nobody. I’m not aware of the situation, and I do not even know if artists are paid to make murals in the city of Montemor-o-Novo or in the surroundings. Yes, I am currently doing paintings and organizing some exhibitions.

Magical beings that you see, how would you describe them?  And are they seen with or without entheogenic substances?

Without entheogenic substances, I saw a dragon, as I’ve already spoken about.  I also saw other magical beings as greys (aliens). It was at night. I had gone to bed and put out the light. He was lying next to me, a white being with black eyes, very beautiful and bright, contrary to the way they are usually represented as: ugly and scary beings. It was strange that  I saw him so close for several minutes, but I do not remember him going away. In this same house a few years ago, I also remember seeing several demons with wings flying in my bedroom. It was dark and they emanated a red and luminous fog. Also, I have seen a Sadhu, what may seem normal for some people, but the magical part is that I live in Portugal, and, once again, I was in my bedroom with the lights off,  lying down, and suddenly I saw him with his trident floating in the space. He was much smaller than me and had a trident that he jostled in front of him, making it appear as a mandala or a symbol of alchemy. These previous examples were all sighted in very luminous ether, but I have had other sightings of goblins and mermaids in anima, which I would define as a more subtleway of seeing than the ether, yet they still move with their own intelligence. The goblin I saw appeared at the same time I was drawing a goblin from an already existent image. I assumed that the image had a spiritual charge and accepted within myself the intention to telepathically transmit the image to the goblin when I finished it because I felt it was part of his heritage.

With entheogenic substances, I saw a spaceship about 20 meters from me for a few minutes. I have also seen “flower people” who were spinning in space with a flower on their heads; also entities that lived in temples in the trees; and lastly, I have seen fairies that appeared after I took a magic dagger with Celtic ornaments out of a quartz and iron crystal, but it immediately  disintegrated. I have  also seen “the net of being” that Alex Gray portrays in one of his paintings with an holographically real dimension. With these experiences, I conclude that they were all entities that live at different vibrational levels that could be next to me or superimposed on the landscape as if we could see several realities around us, exactly as I try to portray in my art. In dreams I also had this kind of visions.

I thank you for the interview and I would like people to know and believe that being alive is magic and that magic is always around.

Click to see more on dAM’s work


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