Journal #6 Meet Tomás Cunha Ferreira, our artist-in-residence

Photo by Darian Dornelles.

We recently invited Lisbon-based artist, Tomás Cunha Ferreira, to spend a week at MdQ soaking up the atmosphere. Afterwards, he designed our new Branco Vinhas Velhas label, full of our colours.

What are your earliest memories of art?

I don’t remember ever not being an artist. As a kid I lived for painting, poetry and singing – my parents were architects and I was constantly being exposed to art and literature. I would steal materials from my father and use his paints and brushes in secret. Throughout my life, I’ve remembered the paintings that have touched my soul.

What kind of art do you create?

I’m what some call a contemporary artist, but really this is subjective, as I could be considered contemporary by someone living 300 years ago, or someone in the future. Over the last 10 years I’ve found a way to combine everything I like without it getting messy – so I work with sound, collage, words, and paints. I now see them as part of the same movement. 

People say that my paintings give them a sense of joy, peace and fulfillment, which always surprises me because I’m not really trying to say anything with my art, but that’s often what comes through. A friend once said my painting filled the room with atmosphere like children do – that was very nice to hear. 

Tell us about the creative process when designing MdQ’s new label 

Filipe (MdQ’s owner) invited me to spend a week at the vineyard getting to know it and soaking everything up. He said; “come do you thing and see if something comes up, but don’t worry if it doesn’t”. His mother was an artists and he understood that you can’t always do art in an intentional way.

So I spent time there going on lots of walks to Silves and around the vineyard, looking at all the colours of the earth, the castle, and how the morning light hit the ground. I tried to be a bit like one of the vines, soaking everything up to grow grapes. 

I also thought about the Arab heritage in the area, and how they cultivated it before the Portuguese, and introduced fig and almond trees because they just made sense in the landscape. 

I channeled all of this and created a collage, which is what you see today. I didn’t search for particular meaning with the colours, but more how to give the feeling of the place without words. Filipe liked it immediately, it just felt obvious for MdQ.

*Tomás has an exhibition running at Galeria da Boavista in Lisboa and you can check his Instagram here.