PORTRAIT II

AMILCAR GOMES NEW YORK

Amilcar Gomes is a creative director and a student of the sublime. Through motion and film, he teases out the tension between the abstract and the real to create dynamic visual stories for his clients. The result of his innately inquisitive process is an infinite uncovering of new avenues for visual exploration.

As a surfer, Amilcar holds a great respect for nature and its effect on his inner world. He always looks for a natural element in his creative work, and then seeks to articulate it beyond a certain boundary, so that it transcends expectations of reality. That sense of going beyond through creativity unfolds limitless opportunities for learning and expansion. Amilcar lives, works, and surfs in New York.

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How would you define your style or approach to work?

In one way or anther I have always wanted to be a problem solver. I try to see that as a starting point. I very much like the relationship between an assignment and its completion, maybe because I am a good student. I change my role as I need to but most of the time I am just trying to figure out how I can touch as many parts of the process as possible.

Your work is patient, often slowed down to hover over and pre- sumably to emphasise the finest details. What motivates this tendency?

If you take a little bit of time to really craft what you want to do, the work becomes all the more rich.

“The majority of the time when you’re surfing you’re just sitting out in the ocean waiting for a wave and that gives you all the time to dissect those little things, you start to really pay attention to all the intricacies of it, like water texture and the way it looks and feels.”

Your motion films don’t come on strong initially but slowly wrap themselves around the viewer. The effect is spellbinding, almost hypnotic.

Ever since I was a young child, my interest has been the sublime. I am drawn to beautiful things laced with a hint of darkness.I like things with an element of mystery.

“You imagine reaching some apex where everything is perfect and you are satisfied with what you do. And that satisfaction happens to a degree, but the interest is always to add more and make things better.”

With that said, your work is not surreal or abstract – do you prefer purity and simplicity to something overtly obscure?

I like things to feel real and natural. I always gravitate towards a natural element and I enjoy articulating and accentuating it.

Are you ever satisfied?

You imagine reaching some apex where everything is perfect and you are satisfied with what you do. And that satisfaction happens to a degree, but the interest is always to add more and make things better. There is so much to learn. You have to keep feeding that curiosity.

Does that acceptance of not knowing and the humility that comes with it help you when working with brands or other creative people?

“In teamwork you really feel that sense of not fully knowing. There is really so much we don’t know, and that’s ok. To incorporate feedback into your work is very important, because being too prescriptive or emphatic about one’s own opinions is not that helpful in the end. If I welcome a few other voices in, I am building something bigger than I would have had. I have no doubt of that.

PHOTOGRAPHER MARC HOM | WORDS BY MATTHEW FREEMANTLE | FILM BY OLIVER KNAUER | ART DIRECTION NR2154