From Nothing was developed in January 2021, shortly after I moved to Lisbon and at a formative moment in my life as an artist. Working from a space that was entirely my own for the first time, and under the restrictions of lockdown, I began the series as a way of establishing rhythm and continuity within a newly defined environment. The project was structured around a clear intention: to make 100 A4 paintings on paper. At a time marked by newness—of place, of working environment, and of artistic commitment—that fixed aim provided a sense of direction, allowing repetition itself to become a way of building rhythm, continuity, and presence. What might initially appear as constraint became a means of generating momentum. Amid the restrictions of Covid, the fixed framework of the series offered a way to keep moving, with each painting functioning as a point of departure rather than resolution.
Without relying on external reference, the works emerged through an exploratory process aimed at developing a visual language. Across the series, forms shift between abstraction and suggestion, coherence and disruption. Certain motifs recur, while others dissolve or reconfigure, creating a field in which ideas are tested, abandoned, and revisited. The movement between works reflects an ongoing negotiation between instinct and control, structure and improvisation. Although presented chronologically, the series resists a fixed narrative. The sequence can be reconfigured, allowing new relationships to emerge and altering how the work is read. In this way, meaning is not established in advance, but remains open—formed through the act of viewing and the connections drawn between images.
From Nothing captures a moment of beginning: a period in which painting became a daily practice shaped by repetition, routine, and the need to generate something from within constraint. It marks an early stage in the development of a visual language, where the act of making itself became a way of working through uncertainty and establishing direction.
