COMMUNITY
Add Fuel Sparks a Lagos Masterpiece Renowned artist Add Fuel made sparks fly in Lagos with his stunning new mural adorning the walls of the Mar d'Estórias shop. Sophie Sadler went to watch him at work and talk about the language of traditional tile design.
It is the end of May and people are starting to venture out of their houses. There is a spattering of people on the dusty streets of Lagos enjoying the warm evening. On one of these streets opposite the cultural centre is an incongruous sight: two men wearing gas masks suspended on an automated platform using spray cans and stencils to create a stunning vision of blue shapes contained within a series of ‘tiles’ painted onto the white walls. The spectacle has generated a small gathering of people including LAC's president Nuno, the curator of the project and a fan of the celebrated Cascais artist Add Fuel AKA Diogo Machado. He tells me that when Mar d'Estórias asked him to find an artist to paint a new mural he immediately thought of Add Fuel, believing his work would be a good fit for the old traditional-style building. Having approached Add Fuel in his somewhat alarming mask, he told me I must wait for him to finish his day's work. His intense focus whilst spraying symmetrical patterns onto the wall with stencils made me feel nervous about talking to him. But I was happy to sit back and watch the performance. He was previously a graffiti artist, though he insists not
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a good one, and seeing him at work is like watching a legitimate version of the undercover artform. The symmetrical patterning and tessellations of the mural are familiar, originating from the tin-glazed ceramic azulejos that are such a common symbol of Portugal and can be seen in many churches and public buildings. The platform squeals as it is raised up and down, and Add Fuel and his assistant, wearing black T-shirts emblazoned with his moniker, peel off the tape which has formed the neat borders of the tiled motifs. The process is an impressive piece of theatre. It is a relief when Add Fuel finally takes off his mask and approaches me. As Diogo, he is very warm and friendly, and he apologises for keeping me waiting. His website hails him as a master of reinterpreting the language of traditional tile design. So what language do tiles speak? “It is a language of aesthetic and colour,” Diogo tells me. He becomes animated. “It comes from the 17th and 18th Century tile design in Portugal, which is defined by the colour blue and shapes reminiscent of wood and iron-work. It is semi-baroque and the visual element comes from the Moorish influences in Portugal.”
