Artur Bordalo, known as Bordalo II , was born in 1987 in Lisbon, Portugal. He grew up in a family of artists, which fueled his passion for art from a young age. His artistic career began as a graffiti artist , a field in which he gained notoriety in the Lisbon art scene. However, it is his later work that has made him famous in the world of contemporary art, Bordalo II, in fact, is an innovator in the world of recycled art .
His artworks incorporate waste materials to create three-dimensional sculptures of animals that are not what we expect from a mural or even a sculpture but are a hybridization. Bordalo's animals have a great visual impact due to their considerable size and bright colors: they are in fact built from materials such as scrap, old appliances, tires and plastic that go to create animals in danger of extinction, such as birds, felines and reptiles. These animals seem to emerge directly from the walls or surfaces to which they are attached, giving them a powerful and almost magical presence. Bordalo II's works go beyond the aesthetic aspect, they are a tribute to nature and a criticism of the negative effects of urbanization and pollution on the environment; they tell a story of concern for the environment . Using waste materials, the artist wants to highlight the problem of waste and pollution that afflict our planet.
During our trip to Portugal we had the pleasure of seeing the works of Bordalo II and appreciating their artistic value. The works we saw are part of the series “ half and half ”, in which animals are represented half made of colored waste and half monochrome.
O Coelho ; It is located in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the banks of the Douro River opposite the city of Porto.
In Coimbra, between Porto and Lisbon, the main cities of Portugal, are Half owl and Half gorilla .
Half Burro (2017) in the town of Montijo a few km from Lisbon is a real point of interest and it is not unusual to find tourists who have come just to photograph it!
Are you curious and would like to see some of his works? You can find works by Bordalo II in Italy! The Portuguese artist has in fact worked in the peninsula, in nearby Este with the work: Riccio (2015), created inside a former bus parking lot and on the wall of the Teatro Colosseo in Turin with Bear , a tribute to Daniza, a bear killed in Trentino in 2014.