A VISUAL MAGICAL REALISM
Cubism is a language which unconsciously, we all express in our creative moments or in design choices; not dissimilar to the invention of perspective as visual tool, Cubism – perhaps a contradiction or challenge to perspective as a tool- is part of our unconscious. Malu has a unique response and synthesis of visual elements to the various types of Cubism. She mixes elements of Proto-Cubism (e.g. Cezanne) with Synthetic Cubism (e.g. Matisse), at times results seem more formal as in Analytical Cubism (e.g. Braque & Picasso 1010-12), but it is not. In reality her style is far more playful, less contrite, and more spontaneous, intuitive as later works by the latter artists. She mixes this research with elements of Expressionism and Outsider Art (in the characters especially, as Malu is semi-autodidactic). She began to call her painting portfolio Gates of Perception around 2011, but for the last 8 years, living partly in Europe again, she realised she was creating a form of personal or unique Visual Magical Realism echoing narratives by writers G.G. Marquez and I. Allende. She was turning her images naturally into visual statements about the subjectivity of perception, using plasticity to convey both the ephemeral quality of nature, while at times, bringing time to an almost frozen state of being, as if time exists inside time. – A visual existentialist portfolio highlights these concepts below.
O Cais das Pedras (The Stone Harbor)
Acrylic on canvas, 32×50″, 2026.
Malu creates a Visual Magical Realism, where different sensations of time coexist simultaneously, but another important factor is that often, there’s a source of light, a sense of atmosphere permeating the image, even if surfaces seem flat or present considerable texture.
Crossings
Acrylic on canvas, 30×48″, 2025.
Uses syncretism of Cubism, Expressionism and Outsider Art to create a universal but quaint scene in almost monochromatic harmony. Dominant narrative elements reoccurring, each figure living in their own personal universe – unfinished for now.
Slumber
Acrylic house paint on vinyl screen & mixmedia collage – up-cycled materials for a public urban Art Walk, about 51×59″, 2025.
Certainly aspects of outsider art in the figures particularly, inhabiting a shifting environment.
Chapel on the Rocks
Acrylic on Arches tan paper, 22×30″, 2024. Unframed currently.
A more direct live-observation study by Malu.
House of Sand, People of Clay
Acrylic on canvas, 30×40″, 2022.
Contemplative figures lost in a changing uncertain environment; the ethereal but forceful sky above, the fragile houses, the afternoon stupor, envelop the scene into a seemingly quaint village in the dunes.
Nazaré
Acrylic on linen burlap, no priming, 30×48″, 2023.
Staring at us from the past, the women of Nazaré speak silently of their rugged lives. A bit more simplistic or geometrical rendering, but a powerful composition with much subtle textures if you zoom in. Cubism & Expressionism merge to respond and honour the photography by Artur Pastor of the same theme.
(Private collection in Cascais, PT)
Into the Bath
Acrylic on Arches paper, 30×22″, 2023.
A little less stylized, more subjective in form, this work combines the current synthesis style with old classical themes, yet, it feels quite contemporary.
(Private collection. US family living in Porto)
Aurora
Acrylic on board, framed, 30×24″, 2024.
More abstracted than some, this ever shifting dawn upon a town is almost monochromatic, it invites us for a walk in the early morning while everyone is still asleep.
Times
Acrylic on canvas, 47×41″, 2023.
This piece directly addresses the passage of time theme within Malu’s style of syncretism of various genres, but also literally in the image itself. A vibrant composition in monochromatic reds. Once again, our gaze and emotions are guided by the light.
The Cubist Bar
A Study. Acrylic on art paper, 22×15″, 2024.
The actual bar has a chair fitted on the stair like this, but despite the usual Expressionistic distortions and colours, Malu does play with illusions, particularly in the mirror reflection which is a source of light near a window. Yet the diagonal composition, the stair and the chair carry our gaze toward the dark hallway.
Card Players
Acrylic on linen canvas, 27×32″, 2020.
In this response to the traditional theme of card players and to Cezanne, in particular, Malu inverts the hierarchy of relevance, not making the figures so monumental as he did, but rendering the space almost sacred, a ritual takes place with figures rendered in an Outsider Art style.
Night at the Inn
Acrylic on Arches cream paper, 30×22″, 2021.
Part of a series of works on paper during lockdowns, living in a guesthouse, Malu registered several different times of day, the two different rooms she inhabited with her elder daughter at the time.
(Private Collection, Athens, GR)
Óbidos
Acrylic on canvas, 40×30″, 2023.
Playing with the different planes of the medieval town, there’s much play of push and pull hidden inconspicuously here.
Arches of Time
Acrylic on canvas, 28×24″, 2022.
This piece also directly addresses the passage of time theme with the syncretism style of Cubism & Expressionism, but also quite literally in the image itself. A vibrant composition in almost monochromatic blues. Our gaze and emotions are guided by light.- Before Malu had her two daughters, she had a day dream of walking in an old town, into the light of the sun, holding her daughter’s hand and carrying the other – this is perceived subtlety in the bright focus of the painting.
(Private collection, US family living in Porto)
ART EXHIBITIONS & CURATORIAL PROJECTS LIST
Highlights:
FALL 2025 – UPintheAR! 2025, Edition II, outdoor public up-cycled art walk, international artists installations, Matosinhos, PT
SUM 2023 – Bela Biennial, VI Edition, main exhibition, international art expo, Helsinki & Varkaus, FI
MAY 2023 – Bela Biennial, VI Edition, Part I, Poleeni Cultural Center, Pieksämäki, FI
NOV 2022 – The Game of Art, Part II, group show, AVA International Gallery, Varkaus, FI
AUG 2022 – The Game of Art, group show, AVA International Gallery, Helsinki, FI
OCT 2022 – Louvre Carrousel Art Fair, art expo, AVA International Gallery, Paris, FR
JUN 2022 – AVA Art Festival, large group show, AVA Gallery & ENOCO Cultural Art Center, Osaka, JP
MAR 2022 – ALL YOU NEED IS ART (fair) ’22, art expo, as artist & curator for Galeria Eslabón, Lisbon, PT
FEB 2022 – ARTIST360 MADRID 2022, Contemporary Art Week, as artist & curator for Galeria Eslabón, Madrid, SP
OCT 2021 – KUNST Berlin 2021, international group show, Galeria Zero & Lite-Haus Cultural Center, Berlin, GE
JAN 2020 – Art Fair Carnavalesque, NY artists group show, Van Der Plas Gallery, Manhattan, NY, US
JUL 2019 – SOBE & DESCE, synchronized independent art gallery & studio crawl, selected curated art openings at Rua do Bonjardim, Porto, PT
SEP 2017 – Dumbo Gallery Walk, art gallery crawl, trio show, Creative Arts Block, Brooklyn, NY, US
SEP 2015 – Rosendale & Beyond, duo show, TransAndDanceAndDrums, Rosendale, NY, US
SEP 2014 – Eslabón Petit Salon, duo show with musician photographer Frank Ferrara, Galeria Eslabón at K. DiResta Design & Collective, SC, NY, US – Curated, produced, promoted & exhibited art & music performance with both artists’ presentations
JUN 2014 – Eslabón Spring Salon, group show & composers concert, Galeria Eslabón, at The Firehouse Space, Williamsburg, NY, US – Curated, produced & promoted, 17 artists presented & exhibited art & song-writer performances
MAY 2013 – Eslabón Salon, group show, Eslabón Gallery (pop-up gallery space), NY, US – Curated, produced & promoted. 10 artists presented, performed or exhibited
JUL 2010 – Colors of the Sun, Beach Bum, group show, Galeria Eslabón at Arts-Bistro Olives by the Sea, SC, NY, US – Curated, produced & promoted
OC 2008-9 – NYC Art Faculty Show, group exhibit, MLK Gallery, DOE office headquarter, NY, US
JAN 2001 – International Juried Show, group juried show, New Jersey Center of Visual Arts, Summit, NJ, US – Juror Art Critic & Historian Dr. Donald Kuspit. Merit Award
NOV 2000 – New York, New England Talent Juried Group Show, for recent (max. 3 yr.) graduates, a U. of Massachusetts & Hampshire College Collaboration, MA, US – Juror Exit Arts’ Dir. Jeanette Ingberman. Honorable Mention
MAY 2000 Art Faculty 2000, group show, School of Fine Arts, College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ, US
APR 1999 – BaRRoquism, 4 international artists group show including Prof. Luis F. Alonso, NY Law School Gallery, NY, US – Curated, produced & promoted in collaboration with the Organization of Independent Artists
APR 1998 – Fine Arts Symposium, artists & NYC art critics (with Laura Hoptman, former MOMA, current Dir of Drawing Center) lectures & exhibit, one year program organized by sculptor Prof. Jillian Jagger, juror Dr. Donald Kuspit
APR 1998 – Dean’s Office Honor Show, solo exhibit, Fine Arts Department, Pratt Institute, NY, US
JAN 1998 – Transforming Entities, Pratt Institute, Steuben Gallery, Brooklyn, NY, US – Thesis solo show, print-making installations
JUL 1997 – Trio, Galleria Corte del Angelo, Municipal Gallery, artist curated international trio exhibit, Lucca, IT
APR 1997 – Subjective & Subconscious, Print-making Galleries, Fine Arts Department, Pratt Institute, NY, US