New Bedford artist Filipe Miguel’s studio is an eclectic mix of items that represent his diverse artistic interests. Sculptures, crafted from industrial metallic materials, dangle from the ceilings alongside collaged paintings of mixed media. Working in New Bedford, he has enjoyed the sense of community and opportunity the city offers.
“I feel right at home in New Bedford and part of a great artistic community,” he said. “There’s a thriving art scene with public art through DATMA and New Bedford Creative, and I’ve been able to be part of a couple of projects through them, which has been really nice. I don’t think it’s something that I certainly would ever take for granted.”
In a recent exhibition, “Social Dissonance,” hosted at the Cape Cod Cultural Center in 2021, Miguel playfully challenged viewers to actively participate in his art, blurring the lines between observer and creator. The exhibition delved into the yearning for connection in a world paradoxically separated by technology.
Miguel draws inspiration from a spectrum of sources, from the mundane details of a metallic turkey roasting pan to the profound impact of the metaverse. His latest works mark a departure from the interactive installations of “Social Dissonance,” embracing the simplicity of charcoal on paper and a return to the fundamental connection between the artist and the sensory experience of creation.
“At first, these drawings were really about going back to the basics, the basics of putting hand to paper and making marks,” he said. “I think that the allure of the charcoal drawing is really the inspiration, allowing the text to generate different meanings. And I think that that sort of openness is something I’m looking for.”
He continues to play with the concept of words, pulling them out of context and letting the viewer fill in the meaning.
“I’m starting to play with the text,” Miguel said. “Maybe in the next drawing, I’ll pull out each word and make that the subject for the drawings, with the intention that I show them all together, and then they sort of maybe stir up emotions, different meanings for people.”
Completing his undergraduate studies at UMass Dartmouth’s College of Visual & Performing Arts and specializing in art education and painting, Miguel currently resides in Onset and is a visual arts teacher at Barnstable High School. Miguel remembers the pandemic being a challenging time for his art and career as a teacher.
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Contact Filipe and view the artist’s work.
Events:
“I started to examine what I was doing as an art educator in school … We went through hybrid learning. We went through Zoom classes. We went through sitting in classrooms six feet apart with masks. We did so many different things. All of these things generated feelings of nostalgia for what it was like to be in school.”
Perhaps catalyzed by the challenges of being a visual artist and educator during uncertain times, his newest work represents a return to the core of why we create at all. Several large cartoonish drawings depict characters from the back of old periodicals, ones that one would draw as a child to send away to the publisher for prizes.
As artists, are we willingly inviting judgment from others? Are we asking for outside validation?
These themes seem to permeate Miguel’s work.
David Walega is a photojournalist from the South Coast whose work has appeared in publications around the world. Email him at dwalega@newbedfordlight.org.
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