Alexander Farto, aka VHILS, used to define his work as an “Archaeology of the Present”. The way in which the Portuguese artist intervenes on different media is indeed reminiscent of excavations that would come to light the subject represented, as if the challenge were to pull out a vestige from the past and oblivion.
VHILS hits, drills, abrades, scrapes and even uses explosives. He adds nothing, on the contrary, he removes material from the successive layers that make up a wall or facade. Each layer, with its particular color and texture, adds an extra nuance to the overall composition.
This technique which consists of digging the different layers of a material, and which he calls “scratching the surface”, is for the artist a significant act: all these superimposed layers are the memory of the city and to reveal them is to raise awareness about the unbridled development of our contemporary societies. Using portraits of anonymous individuals, he recalls the human dimension of this urban expansion, and highlights the interdependence that links each community to the march of the world.