Hamilton Aguiar showcases new works at Aspen Grove Fine Art

Whether your artistic taste leans more toward landscapes, mesmerizing opticals, or pop art, Hamilton Aguiar offers something for just about everyone. But one constant resonates throughout his paintings and sculptures: They connect viewers with nature, providing a sense of peace and calm.

Between March 29-30, he unveils his new spring pieces at Aspen Grove Fine Art.

Born in Brazil in 1965, he moved to Long Island, New York, in 1987 and began depicting chilly landscapes within the forests of the state in 2004. He then moved onto his Solitudes series, portraying the barren architecture of single trees against a variety of captivating background colors, using oil over silver or copper leaf or aluminum, encased in resin. His Uno series showcases the trees in bloom, attracting the eye and tricking the brain with their unique rendering, as if he took photographic negatives and bathed them in gradient shades of color.

Though these series continue to garner commissions in custom sizes and colors and he presents a few new Landscapes and Solitudes this spring, most of his new pieces on display represent the latest evolution of his three other, best-selling, series: Flowers, Seascapes and Opticals.

“Once I have a subject, I like to explore as much as I can in all different ways,” he said about all of his series.

Rather than his previous 2-D relief flowers, which he began creating after he moved to Miami — influenced both by legendary pop artists and the city’s graffiti — his most recent flowers are outlines, creating hollow spaces in the middle, which open to the color of whatever wall they’re hung upon. From there, the drip, or pistil, three-dimensionally emerges, hanging over the wall. He’s also working on flowers made of powder-coated metal that can withstand elements outdoors for poolside or deck inclusion; he plans to have those ready in about two months.

“It’s a different technique because it’s metal, but so far, it’s still the same look,” he said, adding that some, like a trio of flowers he’s building, will be completely three-dimensional and freestanding.

His Seascapes have always drawn in viewers; their rich shades of blue make you want to dive right in, as your eyes dance from sand to sky and all depths in-between. His latest Seascapes are more subtle and a bit more abstract than previous ones; like his landscapes, they’re more blurred, with white sea foam dissipating into clouds.

“It’s almost like nothing in the painting because it’s very subtle. It looks like a lot of mist on it,” he said. “It’s not defined like I did before. You can see it’s a seascape, but it’s almost like a blurred image. On a lot of my landscapes, I usually do this blur effect, and now I’m doing it on the Seascapes, as well.”

His daughter helped inspire his Opticals series by originally encouraging him to mix, and incorporate, new colors. Spanning up to 72×72 inches, or 48×84 inches horizontally — and sometimes including 2-inch depths — these mesmerizing, seemingly rippled, tonal Opticals convey depth and movement as viewers walk past them, changing like rippling waves or silky fabric waving in a gentle breeze.

“I’m trying to do as much as I can with the metallic colors because it really helps make them pop more,” he said, adding, “All my pieces are very calm. They are very subtle, so this way people can get home, look at it, and relax and enjoy.”

He still receives requests and commissions for every series, so he never gets bored, he said, spending a week or month painting Seascapes or Landscapes, then changing over to Opticals or Flowers.

Overall, his art helps merge viewers with elements of nature.

“A lot of times, I think we take for granted what we have, or we don’t pay attention,” he said. “I’m just trying, not to top nature, but to paint nature the way I see the view.”