ADD FUEL transferred his chaotically calm street art into this smooth n shiny baby blue MONSTER so you can bring the streets of Portugal into your HOME.

About the Artist:

ADD FUEL

Portugal

Add Fuel is Portuguese visual artist Diogo Machado (b. 1980).

With a degree in Graphic Design from Lisbon's IADE – Institute of Visual Arts, Design and Marketing, he spent a few years working in design studios in Portugal, followed by an eight-month stint in Munich, Germany. Since 2007, he has been focusing exclusively on his artistic work.

Starting out under the full name Add Fuel to the Fire, he first created a dark, yet exuberant visual universe populated by a cast of slimy, eccentric and joyful creatures, influenced by a variety of interests ranging from video games to comics, animation, sci-fi, designer toys, and urban visual culture.

In 2008, fascinated with the aesthetic possibilities of symmetrical patterning and tessellations, he shortened his moniker to Add Fuel and began redirecting his focus towards working with and reinterpreting the language of traditional tile design, and that of the Portuguese tin-glazed ceramic azulejo in particular. Effortlessly blending these two seemingly irreconcilable visual idioms, his current practice seeks to combine traditional decorative elements with contemporary visual referents into new forms that reveal an impressive complexity and a masterful attention to detail. If, on the face of it, his work in small and medium sized tile panels, large-scale stencil, and freehand painted murals, and print editions might seem simply a pastiche of classic formalism, a closer inspection rewards the viewer with a chaotic world of unequivocally original motifs and characters brimming with deep emotions.

Creating balance and harmony from symmetrical repetitions, a build-up of layers and techniques of visual illusion such as trompe-l'œil, his multi-layered patterned compositions produce a poetic rhythm that plays with the viewer's perception and the (multiple) possibilities of interpretation.

Exploring a wide range of both manual and digital techniques in the fields of drawing, painting, ceramics, and printing, his practice expresses a sophisticated dialogue between the old and the new, between heritage and modernity.

Besides the numerous public art interventions, he has been creating in various countries, he has also been showcasing his work in solo and group exhibitions in reputed galleries and museums.

Diogo Machado lives and works in Cascais, Portugal.

@addfuel

About Superplastic:

Superplastic is a global entertainment brand famous for creating and managing animated celebrities with millions of dedicated followers on social media. The company's talent roster includes Instagram and TikTok sensations Janky & Guggimon, Dayzee & Staxx, Kranky, ShüDog, and more.

Superplastic has produced and sold millions of dollars in limited-edition designer toys and apparel based on its characters since its launch in 2018. Most drops sell out in minutes, and many go up in value in aftermarket sales. The company continues to collaborate with brands and celebrities including the Gorillaz, Rico Nasty, J. Balvin, Steve Aoki, Addfuel, McBess, Seen, FACT, County of Milan, Volkswagen, Oscar Meyer — and many others.