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SOLAR DOS JORGES, FILME

Enquanto houver um espao livre, Jorge Soares vai acrescentar sempre novasguras s paredes e muros exteriores da vivenda que comprou em 1972 comocasa de frias, perto de Lisboa, onde nasceu, situada a pouca distncia daPraia Azul, Torres Vedras. Depois de reformado e viuvo, no incio do sculo,passou a dedicar todo o tempo s decoraes murais em fragmentos deazulejo, s esculturas e instalaes dos objectos que foi antes coleccionando eque continua a recolher e acumular, procura de novos usos.Transformou todas as fachadas da antiga vivenda e deu uma nova pele sparedes da casa e aos muros junto estrada, criou um labirinto de ruas no jardim (com barco, poo e ponte), ergueu uma torre e hasteou uma bandeira,gravou versos, abriu um museu privado. Todas as superfcies so invadidaspor uma gurao proliferante, catica e muitas vezes pardica, criada comuma grande diversidade de materiais, tcnicas e inspiraes, sempre commeios de trabalho rudimentares. a construo de um mundo pessoal, umpuzzle enciclopdico, obra de um mestre do azulejo recortado que antes detudo um humorista.

O Gaudi da Boavista, como j lhe chamaram, um criador compulsivo quedepois de uma vida de trabalho que ele celebra como a carreira de um lutador,

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se reiventou como um artista original, seguindoapenas as suas prprias normas e sem interessepelo comrcio da sua arte. Jorge Soares umartista singular, autodidata, popular, se se quiser,um construtor paisagista to hbil na composio ecolagem em azulejo como inesperado no uso doobjecto encontrado. Frequenta uma rea incertaem que as classicaes so mais redutoras eproblemticas do que esclarecedoras - os rtulosda arte bruta ou outsider no se lhe aplicam: eleno se repete num formulrio excntrico, noilustra os devaneios de um visionrio, nem seencerra num universo secreto e exclusivo. Teveuma vida familiar e prossional de sucesso, desdeo futebol ao comrcio de vinhos, e criou depois otempo e a liberdade para a criao artstica.

com fragmentos cermicos e pedras que desenhaos seus painis murais povoados por guardas quemarcam o stio e defendem a propriedade, pelosanimais de um extenso e divertido bestirio, por personagens com que se

identica ou que retrata com imaginao: So Jorge e o drago, o guerreironu, as sereias e os esqueletos, as efgies da Repblica. Datas, emblemas erepresentaes simblicas marcam o seu percurso de vida e reforam apresena do humor como marca maior da sua obra. Nasceu em 1942, aponta1972 como o incio do Solar dos Jorges e prope-se continu-lo at 2042: oprograma est gravado na pedra. apenas para si prprio que o artista Jorge Soares trabalha, beira daestrada, mas agrada-lhe a exposio pblica e o aplauso dos visitantes. Ao

longo do lme que o acompanhou durante quase dois anos, Jorge Soaresconduz a visita guiada sua obra, que a casa decorada e os jardins povoadosde esculturas, monumentos e objectos transformados. Conta a sua vida,constri o personagem, inventa mais guras ou modica-as, comenta a suaarte e trabalha pacientemente diante da cmara.

O SOLAR DOS JORGES com a participao de Jorge SoaresRealizao Tiago Pereira / Alexandre Pomar, 2014 Fotografias de Pedro Lobo, Tiago Pereira, Alexandre Pomar e Lusa Corteso

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SOLAR DOS JORGES, Jorges castle*

For as long as there is an available space, Jorge Soares will keep adding new

figures to the interior and exterior walls of the villa he bought in 1972 as avacation home, near Lisbon, where he was born, and close to Praia Azul(Boavista, Silveira, Torres Vedras). After he retired and became widowed, inthe beginning of the new century, he began to devote all of his time to creatingazulejo decorations and placing the objects he had since collected or rathergathered and accumulated. He transformed every faade of the old villa and

provided the house and roadside walls with a new skin; he created a labyrinthin the garden and named the paths after close relatives; he erected a tower and

hoisted a flag, engraved verses and opened a private museum. Every exteriorand interior surface of the house has been invaded by a proliferating, chaoticand often parodic figuration, made from a wide diversity of materials,techniques and inspirations, always with rudimentary resources. A personalworld was created, an encyclopedic puzzle; the work of a master of the brokentile who is first and foremost a humorist.

Boavista's Gaudi, as he has been called, is a compulsive creator who, after alifetime of work that he himself celebrates as the career of a struggler, hasreinvented himself as an original artist who abides only by his own rules andhas no interest in the commercialization of his art. Jorge Soares is a self-

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taught, singular, unique folk artist. A landscape builder who is as skilled in tilecomposition and collage as he is surprising in the use of the objects he finds.He operates in an ambiguous area where classifications of his work are morereductionist and problematic than enlightening - the labels art brut or outsiderart do not apply to him: He does not repeat himself in a formula, he does notillustrate the obsessive reveries of a visionary, nor does he confine himself to asecret and exclusive universe. He had a successful personal and professionallife, from professional football to trading in beverages, and only found the

time and freedom for artistic creation in his later years.

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Using ceramic fragments and pebbles, he designs his mural panels populated by guards that landmark and defend his property, by the animals of hisextensive and amusing bestiary, by characters he relates to or depictsimaginatively, (Saint George and the Dragon, the nude warrior, the mermaidsand the skeletons, the effigies of the Republic). Dates, emblems and symbolicrepresentations signal the course of his life and reinforce the presence ofhumour as the main trait of his work. He was born in 1942, regards 1972 asthe beginning of the Solar dos Jorges, and he intends to continue his workuntil 2042 : the plan is carved in stone.Jorge Soares works only for himself, by the roadside, but he enjoys the publicexposure and the acclaim of visitors. Throughout the film that followed himduring nearly two years, Jorge Soares leads the guided tour of his work: thedecorated villa and the gardens populated by sculptures, monuments andtransformed objects. He tells the story of his life, creates the character, andinvents or modifies further figures; he comments on his art and works

patiently before the camera.

Directed by Tiago Pereira & Alexandre PomarImage and editing by Tiago PereiraPhotographs by Pedro Lobo, Tiago Pereira, Alexandre Pomar and LusaCorteso

*Solar, manor house