Suggestive painting

The flesh takes a leading role in the art of Duarte Vitória, though not always in the most expected ways. In some works, it’s the bright red lips of the subject that command attention. In others, the artist focuses on a pair of hands coming together. Things get more eerie and unsettling in compositions where the flesh is folded and speckled with red as if bloody. In one painting, a face gets sectioned off by a rope wrapped tautly around a head. Even with a half-closed eye, the subject looks…