Homemade monument

In the beginning this “was just a forgotten area in front of the door”, recalls Marco Conceição, who didn’t like what he saw. “And as I’d been making art for many years and already knew how to craft things, I decided to construct a monument”.

The masterplan isn’t simple but for a young man, then aged 21, this wasn’t a problem. He found his inspiration in the old, unused bread oven built by his great-grandfather Adelino de Sousa Bicho.

“My reasoning was that the oven had to have flames – that led me to Hell and Death,” he explains. And, of course, straight into controversy. “When I started, a lot of people didn’t like what I was doing and made a lot of fuss, as these themes are heavy ones. With so many good things around, why had I chosen them?” his friends wondered.

“But, you see, I didn’t “choose them”. It was all to do with association of ideas. “Whether we like to accept it or not, religion has a lot to do with our culture”. Added to this, “the unknown is very enticing and a stimulus for the imagination…”

But to heighten local concerns, the young artist started his work when the country was in horror over grisly breaking news of a serial killer in Torres Vedras, known as “Rei Ghob”.

He too had supposedly committed heinous crimes from an eccentric house, full of saints, gnomes and other mythological figures. Comparison was inevitable. “It certainly was, but there are no two people created equal”, Marco Conceição plays down the controversy.

So without taking any of the criticism to heart, he got down to creating his monument – and more importantly, the way his pieces relate to each other. Because a lot of what he has produced up until now is the reinterpretation of Biblical themes:

For example, he’s created an allegory on St Peter who “is furious with everything that’s going on in the world today” beneath him, “while two angels try to calm him down”.

Creating angels was actually quite difficult for the artist. “It took four attempts before they came out right!”

Marco’s sculptures measure just over a metre on average. They’re crafted from various materials, but the main ingredients are “chicken wire, papier maché and rubbish” moulded by hand – the folds of the garments, faces, etc. – and then meticulously painted.

The pagan side of Portuguese culture also has a place within Marco’s work – for example the figure of a witch and her black cat. “She’s upset because she knows the Inquisition is nearby”. Macabre though it may be, history shows us that the Portuguese Inquisition was formed in 1536 and only very gradually diminished over the 18th century in a slow epilogue that ended in 1821!

Besides the Bible, history is an almost never-ending source for Marco who has still to complete some “reliefs that tell the story of the Black Death in Medieval Portugal”. He’s also putting the finishing touches to a Roman mosaic that depicts the arrival of the Romans to Lusitania (ancient name for Portugal).

Some of Marco’s sculptures move. “It’s a form of homemade robotics. As I work in a car repair shop, I often make use of old instruments and things,” he tells. Thus a José Sócrates who raises his arm to implore votes, and beside him a “zé povinho” (a folk hero representing the common man) responding with questionable hand gestures…

Around “70 per cent of all the materials I’ve used have been recycled”. When he’s not working, Conceição is a keen flea market browser – always looking for unusual things to use on his monument.

And so forgotten objects gain new life: cartwheel hubs, railway sleepers, parts from an old defunct water mill from the Serra do Caldeirão and cogs and bits and pieces from old Algarvian water wheels - bought from scrap-merchants or found among builders’ rubble.

The gold cross on the top of the clocktower (also an adapted relic) was bought from an antique/ bric-a-brac shop in Fuseta. “I think its French. A cross that used to stand by the roadside. The French used to place crosses along the roads to protect their crops.

They had the belief that it would work,” he explains.

The “Relógio da Torre do Monte do Bicho” is on the road to a hotel boasting its own golf course. “I don’t know what people think when they pass by, but they certainly notice! Cars are forever stopping at the door with people trying to make out what it’s all about – to see whether it’s a museum, or a float for carnival, or an elaborate nativity scene,” he laughs.

If the monument is not yet totally defined, has he an idea for what it could be? “I can say that it’s still very much at its beginning stages. I’ve only completed 20 per cent of the total project. The second phase will broach the theme of Life”. And he already has the aperitif for the future – a sculpture representing Genesis: Adam and Eve in paradise.

It’s not the classical vision of the couple, as they’re accompanied by a monkey – standing as a metaphor for science and Darwin’s «Origin of Species».

“Later on, I want to do a typical Portuguese village – with fountains, a church, village square and castle”, he adds.

The young artist would very much like his work to be considered “a point of cultural interest” on a tour of the Algarve. “I would like to make this my profession, because this is what I really like doing”. Sustainability could come from “a shop selling regional products and crafts, for example. I know how to do a little of everything: pottery, basketry, weaving, wooden spoons, chair making, among other things”, he adds.

But it’s not an easy dream – particularly as none of the official entities he’s been in touch with have even dignified him with a response.

For guided visits, interested people can call 96 3675322, or email: Email