Why we watch cartoons before going to bed

With the following artist:
Amit Kanfi, Ivan Montaña and Pedro O Novo.

text by Madalena Pequito,

Sometimes we need a little fantasy in our lives to enter other universes. We may need to get lost in conversations that we never had or in scenarios that will never happen, just to escape the harshness of reality for a while.

Cartoons are for kids, but also for grownups. They help children learn, and interact, create new scenarios, and boost imagination and creativity. In the adult world, cartoons can be satirical, present a perspective, unveil injustices, and show political positioning. It is curious because adults also need constant learning and interaction. They need to boost their creativity and imagination, maybe even more than children. With their ever-changing features, cartoons manage to explore and create their own imagined reality. A reality that may exist or not, that can be antique, that be an escape to the real world and that be just parallel to it.

With singular aesthetics, Pedro O Novo has the ability to bring us back in time and to believe his paintings were created some years ago. But at the same time, a funny thing happens. We go to the past while we also have our feet in today’s present. His characters are very theatrical as if they are trying to make a statement. By doing so, the artist preserves the old, immortalizes the characters, and fantasizes about reality.

Amit Kanfi used a blank paper and a pencil as an escape from reality, as a way to be his true self and to create. His characters were born on those pieces of paper. With a bit of humor, Amit’s works are candid and fresh. When we look at his paintings, we see three horses that appear to be the same, but they all share a different message and leave enough room for interpretation and for the creativity of who is observing them.

In a world that is far from perfect and harmonious, some colorful characters freely occupy the canvas surface. A little piece of a child’s notebook goes straight into Ivan Montaña’s works. Colors, loose words, and smiley faces wander around, in this fantastical universe that is parallel to reality. There is freedom in these floating and flying characters as if an inner child is always present to teach the grown-ups something they have forgotten.