Heliodoro Santos
«Landscapes data interchange» by multidisciplinary artist Heliodoro Santos
Last updated
«Landscapes data interchange» by multidisciplinary artist Heliodoro Santos
Last updated
Helio Santos is an Artist working with creative coding, information, internet, and technology training as a painter and digital artist. His work has been exhibited at various international events in 2023. He recently participated in the exhibition “Unbound Ecology in the Machine Age” at Unite London, From August 9 to September 5, also at The NFT Biennial Non-Binary Pavilion via Harddiskmuseum at Ultra Super New Gallery in Tokyo, Japan, Computational Realism in The NFT Gallery simultaneously in London & New York curated by Vertical Crypto Art and in some exhibitions curated by Superchief Gallery at Rome and Lisbon, Digital Dreams group exhibition curated by Kika Nicolela and NFT Art day ZRH and NFT NY 2023 curated by OBJKT and more.
Heliodoro's artwork “Landscapes Data Interchange” was selected for the first ACCA Digital Art Auction “1984” based on the algorithm that exchanges pixels between images. Today, it can be seen in the 1984 ACCA Gallery.
What is your memory of your first art being minted and sold?
My first NFT minted was at Foundation in March 2021. For me, it was something very new and extraordinary. I can’t believe that my digital art was sold. At this moment, a world opened before me as I was thinking about all the possibilities for the artists with this new (for me) way of the arts and culture.
As for your artistic background, could you share how your journey in the world of art began?
When I was very young (13 years old), I started my professional training as a painter. I did my first solo show when I was 15 (now I’m 38). At this moment, I assume that I will be an artist. Since this year, I haven’t stopped my journey.
What is the manifesto of your art? What would you like to share with the world?
For me, art is a powerful human activity. My statement as an artist is to be able to think and generate knowledge with my art, and I speak of that knowledge that is generated by other methods and not only by the scientific method. I talk about that very human knowledge, primitive, a product of intelligence and emotions, subjective.
It is also a way of generating questions, often without answers, but that allows me to understand the world.
What is the most challenging and the most rewarding thing about you being an artist?
Try to make a living from art; if not, find the time to make art the most rewarding thing. It is always discovering new things. Every day, there are new learnings, connecting with others, and empathizing.
What was the theme of your most recent exhibition, and what was its layout? My last exhibition was a group exhibition. It was about AI. I participated with my machine-painted landscapes, a series of oil paintings painted with a robot drawing. The paintings are landscapes generated with machine learning. I also exhibited some landscapes from the series. “data extractivism”.
This current exhibition runs until December 2023 at La concoiergerie in La Motte-Servolex, France.
Can you explain the concept of your artwork, “Landscapes data interchange,” which you provided for the first ACCA Auction?
One of my lines of work focuses on understanding images as a map of information, and I have developed an algorithm that exchanges pixels between images, decontextualizing this information by putting it in a new space, like an exchange or teleportation of pixels, where the data is transferred.
An essential part of this series of works is the code, a poetic strategy within my work that triggers actions from the machine and the pixel.
Over time, many artists’ work becomes more nuanced and less overt. However, the themes and truths remain. What starts your creative process?
Different situations trigger my creative process. Generally, they are questions I ask myself repeatedly or moments that lead me to reflect. It is also a continuum. All the time, I am doing things or thinking about them, solving algorithms, or creating mental images.
Political, social, and cultural issues usually catalyze my creative process.
