Gil Heitor Cortesão's distinctive techniques, aesthetic and chosen topics are bound in the intersection of observation, spatiality, sense of suspended time, cultural and social history. He usually works in an area between realism, that involves photographic references, and abstract effusions with spreads of matter and colours, where chance is part of the creative process. Cortesão is also known for his original use of large-scale acrylic glass on which he paints before overturning the panels for public exhibition.

Monumental in scale - The Flight
is a triptych of rectangular acrylic panels largely covered with a rich range of blue tones immersing its viewers into a vast aqueous environment, a wide open seaside. It features a multitude of small-scale figures playing in a free and relaxed attitude around and on two high diving board platforms standing on both sides of the painting. Precise and clearly defined on the left, the diving tower on the right is spectral, as if it was disappearing. The vanishing platform is overlapped with a fulgurance of luminous white paint, as a huge water splash coming from below. The central panel shows leaping divers jumping in the open space, at different heights, distances and stages of action. Evoking athletic and agile performances, the flying figures bring to mind, not only the mythic yet tragic flight of Icarus, but also Klein's photomontage, - Leap into the void
, which aimed at creating the impression of the artist's fearless capacity of flight.

The overall symmetrical composition fuses to perfection classical components with innovative materials, techniques and effects. Notice the combination of traditional elements - such as the use of oil paints, the horizon line, the structure in overlapping layers from the bottom to the top, the perspective and sensation of depth or the detailed architectural elements - with the uncommon use of transparent acrylic and its flipping - the dream-like atmosphere, the repetition and erasing, the overwhelming liquid element and the freshness of it all.