ADD FUEL

My name is Diogo Machado and I am a Portuguese visual artist. Starting out under the full name Add Fuel to the Fire, I first created a dark yet exuberant visual universe populated by a cast of slimy, eccentric and joyful creatures, influenced by a variety of interests ranging from video games to comics, animation, sci-fi, and urban visual culture. In 2008, fascinated with the aesthetic possibilities of symmetrical patterning and tessellations, I shortened my moniker to Add Fuel and began redirecting my focus towards working with and reinterpreting the language of traditional tile design, that of the Portuguese tin-glazed ceramic azulejo in particular. My current practice seeks to combine traditional decorative elements with contemporary visual referents into new forms that reveal an impressive complexity and a masterful attention to detail. If my work might seem simply a pastiche of classic formalism, a closer inspection rewards the viewer with a chaotic world of unequivocally original motifs and characters brimming with deep emotions. Creating balance and harmony from symmetrical repetitions, a build-up of layers and techniques of visual illusion such as trompe-l'œil, my multi-layered patterned compositions produce a poetic rhythm that plays with the viewer's perception and the possibilities of interpretation. I expresses a sophisticated dialogue between the old and the new, between heritage and modernity.