Artist shoutout: Bruno Neiva

Having a typewriter and being more playful with words sparked my interest in text-based visual art. I recently discovered the work of Bruno Neiva through his Selected Text-Art 2010-2020, a collection of text art, visual poetry, and digital art.

His work demonstrates the incredible versatility of working with text, or rather creating with text, and offers a different perspective on how to read text in the visual arts. This is how the afterword fantastically describes the artist:

“We might think of Bruno Neva as a sort of double agent, operating in the shadowy borderlands of art and writing, reading the stars, swerving the searchlights, playing both sides but ultimately belonging to neither, making his own way, plotting his own course.”

This collection of works is a great way to get to know this Portuguese artist. I like how Neiva demonstrates that being creative doesn't always mean coming up with something original. It can also mean taking what has already been done and transforming in into your own distinctive style. I was excited to discover that Bruno Neiva teaches Laboratory of Experimental Textual Practices at the University of Porto, sharing his knowledge of text-based art with others.

Bruno Neiva, Well, (after Susan Howe), Selected Text-Art 2010-2020, p. 46

Bruno Neiva, Bouquets, Selected Text-Art 2010-2020, p. 65