The founder of pioneering Romanian street art collective The Playground, Saddo is an interdisciplinary artist whose offbeat, illustrative paintings reimagine history. He recently relocated to Lisbon, Portugal and created a new series of work for his solo show “Rise of the Bird People,” which opens at Objectos Misturados Gallery in the small city of Viana do Costelo on May 31. Saddo has often referenced the master painters of the 15th-17th centuries as major influences. Since he moved to Portugal, he shifted his focus to the local historical happenings of the region. “Rise of the Bird People,” though contemporary in style, takes a look at the conquistadors of the aforementioned period — when European imperialism was at its height. The bird people enact violence in the name of conquest. Though Saddo makes these heavy topics easily digestible, the works subtly evoke the ways historical patterns of systematic violence have carried over into today.
