A figura animal e a fantasia na pintura

This artistic research project addresses some of the possibilities and ways of representing the animal figure in painting using aspects and mechanisms of fantasy – one of the recurrent human faculties of artistic creation - through the study of my artistic work and the works of artists who also reflect on the same. The investigation begins with the analysis of the mimetic representation of the animal figure, with an approach to the works of the painters Frans Snyders, Henri Rousseau and Franz Marc. Then, the presence of the animal figure in the elaboration of forms or in the fusion of the bodies of creatures (such as hybrids, monsters or fantastic creatures) is identified through the analysis of the first panel of the pictorial triptych The Garden of Earthly Delights, by Hieronymus Bosch, and the animated film Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki. Then, it is intended to define what fantasy is - with the help of the book Fantasia by Bruno Munari - and highlight its qualities as a human faculty of creation, using some of the works of the artists under study and, above all, my artistic work presented in this research project. This artistic work consists of a series of paintings with prominent volumes, composed with thick mass and enamel paint on canvas, in production since 2019. Finally, a counterpoint is established between the concept of fable and my artistic work, from the cinematographic screen to the pictorial screen, in which the similarities and dissimilarities are highlighted. Since the animal figure and fantasy are the basic themes of this research project, as well as of my practical work, a framework and reflection on themes such as anthropomorphism and animal ethics, and their pertinence in the current context, is presupposed