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- FROM THE EDITOR Art is risk. Art is exposure. Art is vulnerability. CARLOS DUARTE Welcome again. By now you know Directarts International is the place where Portuguese talent gets showcased and with this our third issue we are definitely hitting our editorial stride. If you have had the opportunity to read our first two issues you will notice that we have made some changes, giving our page design and logo an exciting new “facelift” with the help of our newest team member, the very talented graphic designer Ana Serra. We have also the good fortune and privilege in this issue to showcase the talents of masterful Paula Rego, the engaging images of Adriana Molder, the indiscriminate illustrations of Helder Oliveira and others who have made their reputations as artists not only nationally, but also abroad. These are the talented people among many that we as a Portuguese artistic community and as a society should be proud of. Art is risk. Art is exposure. Art is vulnerability. The audience’s reaction is personal, subjective - it’s also therefore subjected - to judgement, good and bad. And here in Portugal it seems the unfortunate definition
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of artistic success is to make it elsewhere. We have a way of cutting down our own. We devalue; sometimes ostracize those who try to stand out, those who seek excellence. Why does it take exposure beyond our borders to gain recognition inside our borders? Don’t we have the confidence to recognize our own good work – to see that confidence is key to taking risk – that risk is key to excellence? That excellence is usually rewarded with recognition? The other more practical consideration is: recognition is all well and good, but is it so bad to also be financially compensated for that? Which brings up the question where does our identity come from? Europe? America? Why not Portugal? Is this about culture, economics, politics? I’m hoping the answer is in the art itself, here on these pages. The art we showcase should speak in for itself. We take it as Directarts’ responsibility (and joy) to highlight the creative community – here. We also get to introduce new talent (let them take some well deserved risks at exposure) and hopefully create a synergy with the established professionals who make the decisions and who are always looking out for the next creative source. We have a vibrant community – passionate, expressive – with creativity to give (and for some, to sell). Our voice, our vision, are our own, and ours to own. To all our painters, sculptures, designers, illustrators, photographers, and conceptualizes and to all who have an appreciation for all arts, keep doing what you do, so we at Directarts can keep doing what we do. It is with great pride that we bring to you our third international issue.
- COVER Adriana Molder, Inigo Guerra (The Goat Footed Lady series), 2012 Adriana Molder is a Portuguese artist who lives and works in Berlin. Molder has achieved international success by developing a figurative structure in her large scale work, where she explores the mediums of drawing ink on tracing paper. This variety of transparencies and sudden solidity, results in a disposition that creates a peculiar and inconclusive space in which the characters immerse themselves and at the same time project a powerful and psychological narrative. Molder is featured in our interview section on page 62.
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DUARTE VITÓRIA
ÍLHAVO - PORTUGAL
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Luís Taklim Drawings that speak volumes by Catarina Vilar
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Hélder Oliveira Illustraded discoveries by Catarina Vilar
Paula Rego Art in a cruel world by Miguel Matos
Bakalhau Salt cod, the national dish by Catarina Vilar
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Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Hymn to the book by Art Critic Maria João Fernandes
Adriana Molder Frame by Frame by Carlos Duarte
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Pedro Calapez The proof by experiments by Rita Ferrão
Alexandra Mesquita Wrinting in an abyss by Art Critic Maria João Fernandes
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Maria Salgado Painter
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Leandro Guardado Image maker
Alberto Plácido Creator of images by Carlos Duarte
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Os Burgueses Urban Opera by Catarina Vilar
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Guava Made in Portugal by Catarina Vilar
Miguel Ângelo Rocha Between space and matter by Miguel Matos
Pedro Figueiredo Ascending bodies by Miguel Matos
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- CREDITS - EDITORIAL POLICY Directarts is an information medium aimed at a public linked to the Arts, be they professionals in the field or merely interested in the Arts. Directarts is a quarterly magazine guided by the ethical principles of rigour and editorial creativity, free of any ideological, political or economic influences. Directarts respects the constitutional rights and duties of Freedom of Expression and Information. Directarts is committed to providing information of interest to the arts community as a whole, exploring an array of areas within the arts, meeting the expectations of a diverse audience. Directarts complies with the Press
Law and the Editorial policy guide-lines defined by its Management. Directarts applies journalistic ethical principles of accuracy and impartiality in order to respect all opinions and beliefs. Directarts is solely liable before its readers, in a rigorous and transparent relationship, free from political or private interests and/or influences. Directarts values each journalistic piece based exclusively on its artistic merits, and not its possible political, social or economic impact. Directarts follows ethical principles of journalistic rigour, impartiality, honesty and respect for all the artwork and artists it divulges.
Director Carlos Duarte carlosduarte@directartsonline.com
Translations
Editorial Director Raquel Vilhena raquelvilhena@directartsonline.com
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Production Manager Graça Romano gromano@directartsonline.com Features Editor Catarina Vilar catarinavilar@hotmail.com Contributing Editors Maria João Fernandes mjfernandes.art@gmail.com Rita Ferrão apis_apis@hotmail.com Miguel Matos migueldematos@gmail.com Graphic Design Ana Serra me@anaserra.com Production Assistant Maggie Brett info@directartsonline.com
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PAULA art REGO in a cruel world TEXT BY MIGUEL MATOS PHOTO BY KENTON THATCHER
A women of flesh and blood just like every other women but possessor of a spirit that surpass all expectations. This might be true of her body, but her spirit certainly seems to surpass all expectations. She cuts a disconcerting figure. You only need to hear her talk about herself, her art or life in general to realise her true complexity. However, the most internationally successful Portuguese contemporary artist hardly believes herself to be above us mere mortals. ‘I would still like to learn to paint and draw well,’ she says. She has her fears, worries and problems; the only difference is that she translates these into images that have the power to astonish us. ‘I get tired easily, and I work a lot. I’m always trying to do something better, to get better at what I’m doing, but I never have any luck! It’s a pain. As I’ve grown older I haven’t grown any better,
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just different,’ confesses the painter with surprising candour. Utterly unfettered by political correctness, she does not shy away from addressing abortion, alcoholism, violence and the most outré sexual desires in her work. If she feels like singing in the rooms of the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego (her museum in Cascais, Portugal, where she grew up), she goes ahead and sings, without worrying what anyone might think about her. But she is still plagued by fears: ‘I’ve wanted to be fearless ever since I was a little girl, but I’ve never managed it.’ Rego was born in 1935 in Lisbon and went to school in Carcavelos. At the age of 16 she moved to London, where she attended the Slade School of Art. There she met the man who would later become her husband,
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Although the themes that Rego visually explores in her works are the stuff of legends or personal memories, it is almost impossible to ignore their politicised irony.
the painter Victor Willing (d. 1988), then a fellow student. One of Rego’s personal reasons for helping to open the Casa das Histórias was that this would finally give her the chance to display Willing’s work. ‘I admire him greatly; he taught me everything. He was the one who encouraged me to do more political work, for example,’ recalls the artist. When the couple later returned to Portugal, they settled in Ericeira and Rego was awarded a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. On returning to her native country, Rego dedicated herself to drawing subjects relating to traditional Portuguese tales. In 1976 she returned to London, where the couple settled for good. Rego became an artist of great renown in both England and Portugal, but she chose to become a British citizen. She found that Portugal seemed to oppress her creativity, and on several occasions has remarked that she is unable to work in her native country. She remained affectionate towards it, but felt no desire to paint while there. In the 1980s she became a lecturer at the Slade School, and in 1990 was named the first ‘Associate Artist’ at the National Gallery, shortly after receiving the Turner Prize. Among other accolades, she won the AICA Prize in 1988, and was awarded the Grã Cruz da Ordem De Santiago de Espada in 2004. In 2010 she was made a Dame of the British Empire during the Queen’s Birthday Honours and in the same year won the MAPFRE Foundation Drawing Prize in Madrid. In 2012 she will have a retrospective exhibition of her work
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staged at the new Gulbenkian Museum in Paris. It is almost impossible to ascribe Rego’s work to a particular artistic current or movement. According to the art historian Paulo Pereira, hers is ‘one of the most disconcerting oeuvres in Portuguese art’. Her first solo exhibition was held in 1956 at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes in Lisbon. At the beginning of her career as an artist, her style of painting was almost automatic, based on cutting and collages, barely hinting at figurative representation and with a strong tendency towards abstraction. One of her most important works from this period is ‘Salazar Vomiting the Homeland’. From this point onwards, her painted forms would gradually become more representative of the human figure. In the 1960s and 70s she produced works that might be likened to surrealism. It was no mere coincidence that one of the major names in Portuguese surrealism, Cruzeiro Seixas, selected Rego’s work for an exhibition at the Galeria São Mamede, where he had taken on the role of artistic director. But this affiliation, like various others, only acted as a cage which could not contain Rego’s wild art. Her work began to take on an increasingly narrative, albeit fragmented, character in works that oscillate between nightmare and reality. A deconstructive treatment of the image can be seen throughout this period, but this did not prevent the artist from gradually pursuing a more figurative style. While the most common trend in contemporary art is to move
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1. Centaur, 1964 Oil and paper on canvas 140x139cm Coll. Paula Rego, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais
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2. Untitled (II), 1999 Series Abortion Etching Image: 19,6 x 29,7 cm Paper: 38 x 47,9 cm Artist’s proof
4. Life Painting, 1954 Oil on hardboard 75 x 55 cm Coll. Paula Rego, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais
3. The Raft, 1985 Series Dentro e Fora do Mar Acrylic on canvas 240 x 190 cm Coll. Paula Rego, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais
5. Turkish’s Bath, 1960 Acrylic, graphite and paper on canvas 84 x 84 cm Coll. Paula Rego, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais
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from a figurative style towards abstraction, Rego took the opposite route. Rego’s images are not simply exercises in the grotesque. ‘We might say that her paintings are formed by disturbing instances of repression which unfurl disconcertingly on all sides, reinvigorated by mimesis and a powerful figurative structure, and ultimately founded on the aggressive nature of our current experience.’ This is how the writer and politician Vasco Graça Moura describes his impression of these works – as sinisterly suggestive as an evil grin, and dripping with sarcasm. Portuguese art could never be the same in the wake of Paula Rego, such has been her influence on subsequent generations of painters.
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Rego’s main aim is to tell stories. Indeed, the suggestion of a narrative becomes ever more apparent in her work from the 1980s, a period in which her figures become increasingly defined and concrete. Her style becomes closer to that of illustration, not unlike that of Hogarth; this is particularly evident in her prints. In fact, printing is one of her favourite techniques, as it allows her to draw as though tearing away the surface. Rego sees herself as a drawing artist first and foremost. She creates almost all of her works with dry pastels, and hates using acrylics and oils. The physical feel of the medium is paramount. Scratching away with a pencil (marking and pressing down on the paper or cutting into a printing block) is very different from painting with a paintbrush (gently smoothing the fibres over the
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6. 6. Loving Bewick, 2001 Series Jane Eyre Lithograph Image: 67 x 43 cm Paper: 87 x 63 cm Artist proof Coll. Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais 7. Amongst Women, 1997 Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium 170 x 150 cm Coll. Ostrich Arts Limited, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais 8. The Pillowman, 2004 Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium 180 x 120 cm Coll. Ostrich Arts Limited, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais
surface of the canvas). But ‘our lady of stories’ does not confine herself to drawing alone; she also produces sculptures that give us an important insight into her creative process. She puts together rag dolls that often serve as models for her paintings. Although the themes that Rego visually explores in her works are the stuff of legends or personal memories, it is almost impossible to ignore their politicised irony. This is particularly evident in the ‘Abortion’ series, created in 1999, following a referendum on the legalisation of abortion in Portugal. Some years later, Rego undertook another series about female genital mutilation. She is a feminist, and her art always stems from a female perspective; a man could never paint like this. She recently exhibited a series of works relating to the issue of adoption and child abandonment in ‘Oratorio’ (2008– 2009), in which she included an installation for the first time, mounted on a three-dimensional structure made up of altarpieces and sculptures. In Portugal, her works are permanently housed in the museum built specially for them, the Casa das Histórias Paula Rego. This is currently hosting the exhibition ‘A Dama Pé-de-Cabra’ (The Goat-Footed Lady), which includes works by Adriana Molder. The exhibition brings together two sets of work carried out separately by the two artists. The one thing they have in
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PAULA REGO
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9. Angel, 1998 Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium 180 x 130 cm Coll. Ostrich Arts Limited, on loan to Fundação Paula Rego / Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, Cascais 10. The Death of the Hunter’s Dog , 2011-12 Series The Goat-Footed Lady (III). Pastel on paper mounted on aluminium 150 x 170 cm Coll. Paula Rego
common is a popular Portuguese folk tale which was reinterpreted and published by the writer Alexandre Herculano in 1851. It is interesting to see how these paintings have taken a common starting point and arrived at two different outcomes. These artists are very different from one another, and belong to very different generations; Molder was born in 1975. The challenge of figuration pervades both sets of work. The idea for the exhibition came from Molder. The two artists worked separately and secretively, never revealing to the other the details on which they were working at a particular time. In the Casa das Histórias they are displayed face to face, without any intermingling, almost as though they were confronting one another. These two different
interpretations have their large format in common, as well as, most importantly, the haunting feeling that they impress upon the viewer. At the same time, another exhibition presents the viewer with two sets of work that could not be any more different: the work of Paula Rego and that of the painter Pedro Calapez. This exhibition is called ‘Innervisions’ and juxtaposes the figurative art of Rego, in works from the collection of Casa das Histórias, with the abstract style of Calapez. The latter has produced a series inspired by the painting ‘Angel’, one of Rego’s favourite works. Rego’s paintings themselves set up a confrontation with those who view them, but they can also take on the challenge of confronting other works.
PAULA REGO
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1. Walls paper by Gordon Matta-Clark (1943-1978) Coll. Teixeira de Freitas [LIV-0086] Photo: Carlos Azevedo 2. Les Illuminations by Sonia Delaunay (1885-1979) ; Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) Coll. FCG – Art Library [LA 1] Photo: Carlos Azevedo
A HYMN CALOUSTE TO THE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION BOOK AT THE TEXT BY ART CRITIC MARIA JOÃO FERNANDES
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www.gulbenkian.pt
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The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Museum recently staged the exhibition Infinite Tasks. It was a conceptual exhibition, a ‘space for an essay’ in the words of the curator Paulo Pires do Vale, who quotes from Montaigne, following an idea that guides the entire journey in the space and time that unbind each other to receive the supreme symbol of knowledge: the book. Although what is being sought is ‘what is not contained within concepts’, an entire ‘dialectic of the senses and the intellect, the concrete and the abstract – an irresolvable confrontation’ is produced on the stage of this small theatre of knowledge. The dynamics surrounding the book approximate to the dynamics of language itself, which is also the protagonist of this scene, the eternal expression of logos and myth, a play of concepts mirrored by the imaginary of which art is the best receptacle. A play of concepts and images, of figurations and brief twinklings of a truth that is always hidden. The concept of the exhibition, which is 2.
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considered as a mutual gift and a common construction, is called into question. In this respect it is not just the object (in this case, the book) that is at stake but also the subject, the actor in a project that involves a process of drift and a sort of visionary prediction that requires the other in order to complete a chain of endless meanings.
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3. Cent mille milliards de poèmes (Hundred thousand billion poems) by Raymond Queneau Coll. FCG – Art Library LT 6664 © Raymond Queneau, ADAGP, 2012 Photo: Carlos Azevedo
By activating intuition and the imagination, the layout of the exhibition aims to create what the curator calls ‘modes of intensification’ through contrasts and affinities, revealing new perspectives and fields of vision that are committed to complexity and that accept flaws and seek to overcome the barriers of reason. The concept of the book is also questioned through a process of examining the role of the other in reading, an integral part of the book and the materiality of the book as an object, since it stages a founding dialogue between the visible and the invisible, between exposure and concealment, between the word and the lacunae that it opens up, not only living silences, as Clarice Lispector would say, but torrents of new writing, babbling rivers of signs capable of containing all possibilities, the very logic of the possible. The title of the exhibition, which borrows an expression coined by Husserl, is rooted in the Greece of the sixth century BC and, with the unity of spiritual life and creative activity, establishes man’s endless horizon as a creator of culture and the subject of a universal knowledge and of history as ‘a spiritual rather than a geographic place’. On the horizon of a form of knowledge that is constantly being constructed and where every branch contributes to the growth of the great tree of learning (which itself is a symbol of infinite ascension), human endeavour, or the tasks of culture, appear to us as a magic spiral in which the beginning meets the end without interrupting its course, instead enveloping it in an eternal rebirth. After identifying the book as the subject matter of his reflections, the author of this project tells us that it is not an exhibition about books but a confrontation between the book and art from which there is no respite. As if they were both two sides of a single page, that possessed of a transparency that is never achieved, that through which Eduardo Lourenço defined the démarche of the incomparable poet Eugénio de Andrade.
4. Deep blue sky Light blue sky Lawrence Weiner (1942) Coll. FCG – Art Library [LA 133] © Lawrence Weiner, ARS, 2012 Photo: Carlos Azevedo
6. O ciclópico acto (The cyclopean act) by Luiza Neto Jorge (1939-1989) ; Jorge Martins (1940) Coll. FCG – Art Library [LA 127] © Jorge Martins, SPA, 2012 Photo: Carlos Azevedo
5. Kô et Kô : les deux esquimaux (Kô & Kô: the two Eskimos) by Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908-1992) ; Pierre Gueguen [P 13790] © Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, ADAGP, 2012 Photo: Carlos Azevedo
7. Les 5 Signes (5 Signs) by José Escada (1934-1980) Coll. FCG – Art Library [LA 144] Photo: Carlos Azevedo
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Because ultimately, in this kaleidoscope of rotating signs, an image conceived by another great thinker and poet, Octavio Paz, emerges: that of poetry as the thing from which everything departs and to which everything returns, the cradle of the unknowable and the lap where the secret and unconfessed fire of the love between the visible and the invisible burns, a phenomenon clearly evident in this apparently heterogenous array of illustrated books, artist’s books, films, installations, sculptures, oil paintings, singleedition or mass-produced books, as well as any other number of classifications. Mallarmé established himself as an exceptional figure with his celebrated Un coup de dés jamais n’abolira le hasard (Cosmopolis, 1897), the starting point for the adventure undertaken by the visual sign in the twentieth century, a ‘living vowel’, in Ramos Rosa’s inspired formulation. The same could also be said of Raymond Queneau, with his cent mille milliards de poèmes (1961). We see a procession of great landmarks in European culture, including a thirteenth-century Book of Revelation, Dierick Bouts’ Annunciation (1465), fifteenth-century books of hours, Robert Fludd’s cosmological treatise (1617), baroque labyrinths of the seventeenth century, Mucha’s wonderful Pater (1899), the Song of Songs illustrated by F.L. Schmied (1925), the futurist experiments of Apollinaire, Fernando Pessoa and Mário de Sá Carneiro (Orpheus, 1915), Marinetti’s Words in Freedom (1919) and António Pedro’s visual texts (1935, 1936). Until we come to the experimental poetry of António Aragão and Herberto Helder, Rui
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Chafes’ sculpture-in-progress, Alberto Carneiro’s project notebooks (1971), António Areal’s illustrated autobiography (1971), disturbing object-books by Ana Hatherly (1973), Helena Almeida (1981), and Richard Long (Labyrinth, 1991), and enchanting object-books by Vieira da Silva (Kô e Kô, 1933), José Escada on the trail of the KWY group, and Lourdes Castro (1971). We also find splendid dialogues between writing and the image, as seen in the works of William Morris and Burne-Jones (1896), Amadeo de Souza Cardoso and Gustave Flaubert (1912), Sonia Delaunay and Arthur Rimbaud (1973), Arthur Miller and Louise Bourgeois, or Luiza Neto Jorge and Jorge Martins (O Ciclópico Acto, 1972), or the dialogues with the visible that are Brassai’s Parisian graffiti. And amid all of this, we find the illustrative coolness of Diderot and d’Alembert’s encyclopedia (17771779) alongside the Temptations of Saint Anthony by an anonymous seventeenth-century artist. An endless procession which is only suggested here, the immense flames of a fire made only of light, the great metaphor for the spirit and knowledge, burning without being seen, like love, but also bearing visible signs of the luxury of written and figurative knowledge, situated between presence and absence, opening up to the infinite threshold of a coming knowledge. The temptation of infinite learning that, above all, comes from evoking purity, the original innocence of Paradise.
CALOUSTE GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION
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PEDRO CALAPEZ THE PROOF BY EXPERIMENTS TEXT BY RITA FERRﾃグ
BY RECONFIGURING LANDSCAPES, OBJECTS, BUILDINGS OR DETAILS OF THE NATURAL WORLD, HE IS ABLE TO CONJURE UP SPACES AND SUGGEST ANOTHER REALITY, A TRANSIENT FICTIONAL WORLD WHOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE HUMAN SPHERE IS OF PRIME IMPORTANCE. www.calapez.com
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1. Topography#04, 2011 Set of two aluminium panels 198 x 98 cm
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“Whiteness and all grey Colours between white and black, maybe compounded of all Colours, and the whiteness of the Sun’s Light is compounded of all the primary Colours mix’d in a due Proportion. The Sun shining in a dark Chamber through a little round hole in the Window-shut and his Light being there refracted by a Prism to cast his coloured Image upon the opposite Wall; I held a white Paper to that image in such a manner that it might be illuminated by the colour’d Light reflected from thence…” (Sir Isaac Newton, Opticks, 1704)
2. Ácido (Acid), 2011 8 Parts acrylic paint on ceramic tile 150 x 54 x 20 cm 3. Barreira G (G Barrier), 2012 Set of 4 aluminium panels painted in acrylic 225 x 71 x 5 cm 4. Gymnasium, 2012 16 Digitally printed aluminum panels each panel: 300 x 150 cm (variable overall dimensions)
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The work of Pedro Calapez (b. 1953) began to reveal its consistency in the early 1980s. Calapez was one of the initiators of the ‘return to painting’, which in Portugal is considered to have begun with the collective exhibition ‘Depois do Modernismo’ (After Modernism), held at the Sociedade Nacional de Belas-Artes (SNBA), Lisbon, in 1983. Since the late 1970s, Calapez has followed a steady path, taking an analytical approach which has driven him to concentrate on reconstructing pictorial references, focusing on personal memories and established stories. By reconfiguring landscapes, objects, buildings or details of the natural world, he is able to conjure up spaces and suggest another reality, a transient fictional world whose relationship with the human sphere is of prime importance.
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5. Pequeno corpo #08 (Small body #08), 2012 Acrylic on aluminum, 10 mm thick 33 x 41 x 4 cm 6. Céus sombrios #09 (Dark skies #09 ), 2012 Acrylic on arches paper 600g 103 x 153.5 cm 7. Base 04, 2011 Acrylic on aluminum 124.5 x 124.5 x 13 cm 8. Six bars B, 2010 Acrylic on aluminum, group of 6 panels 112 x 125 x 4 cm
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Calapez started out studying civil engineering, but abandoned that subject in order to dedicate himself to his artistic studies, first at the SNBA and later at the Escola Superior de Belas-Artes de Lisboa; when at the latter institution he also devoted himself professionally to photography, specialising in architectural and fine art photography. These formative experiences equipped Calapez with a fragmented perception of space, an ability reflected in methodological practices which test the limits of the relationship between the viewer’s gaze and the place, dealing with aspects such as perspective, scale and multiple planes. The scientific training that formed part of his academic background informs the phenomenological and structural aspects of the image and their relationship with the architectural space. In the installation ‘Muro contra Muro’ (1994), in which Calapez references comic strips, specifically scenes from ‘Little Nemo in Slumberland’ by Winsor MacCay, he explores the idea of symmetry in relation to the exhibition space, creating a scenic corridor along which the viewer moves. In the works that make up the series ‘Contentores’ (2004), paintings appear on the inner faces of cubic structures. As they are enclosed, they can only
be seen from above. By assuming this perspective, the viewer is replicating the divine gaze, the source of zenithal illumination in the courtyard of a Roman domus - the archetypical design of an individual house, or the view of the skies from the cloister of a medieval monastery - the archetypal form of collective living. In pieces such as ‘Unidade Habitacional’ (2004) the title evokes Le Corbusier, referring to the design principle of a personal space whose distinctive features are based on colour. These paintings are turned inward, and are thus a cross between painting and architecture. Shaping the notion of intimacy as an internal universe, they are made of a combination of external memories. In Calapez’s work colour appears as a materialization of the projection of light through a space, the architecture, becoming a basic visual matter both in its own terms and as part of the drawing, often executed with both hands, making use of the artist’s ambidextrousness in a clear nod to Matisse. The practice of line drawing from sight alone, is adopted again and again. This experimentation process necessarily goes through a plethora of different solutions, from the repetition of gestures to the insistence on shapes that are only ostensibly similar. The drawing cuts the colour, a sgraffito carved into the thick surface of paint, like an engraving, it also can be traced with oil pastels in a sensual, intuitive way. It’s almost always through the immediacy of drawing that Calapez sets up a dialogue with the work of other artists, although sometimes this practice is also mediated by manipulated photographic images. Such a dialogue took place in 1996, when Calapez accepted a proposal by Museu do Chiado, in Lisbon, to
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9. Piso Zero (Ground Floor), 2004 66 Aluminum panels painted acrylic 350 x 700 x 31 cm 10. Muro 2 (Wall 2), 1996 24 Panels of plywood painted alkyd 336 x 610 x 16 cm 11. Contentores (Containers), 2002/2004 Acrylic on aluminum Each group measures: 130 x 130 x 130 cm 12. Muro contra Muro (Wall against wall), 1994 18 Panels of cut out MDF painted in alkyd 1000 x 240 x 180 cm
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produce work inspired by a set of landscapes, a series of eleven pastel drawings created between 1910 and 1938 by the late-naturalist painter Sousa Pinto. This resulted in the series of works entitled ‘Memória Involuntária’. Similarly, the artist decided to recall the memory of the workshop of Joan Miró in Son Boter, Mallorca, resulting in the installation ‘Campo de Sombras’, presented in 1997 at the Pilar and Joan Miró Foundation, Mallorca. Here, the impressions left by a visit to an uninhabited space
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and the objects populating it, give rise to a series of oil pastel drawings, later integrated into a set of paintings in alkyd on wood. This encounter with the intimacy of Miró’s studio led Calapez to look at the everyday, an approach hitherto until then foreign to his work. A processual detour to a practice many times referenced in history of art, in works by Giotto, Fra Angelico, Piranesi, Tiepolo and
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Monet; or in architecture by Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and others. Continuing the pictorial record while resisting the perennial announcements of the ‘death of painting’, Calapez belongs to a group of artists who are perpetuating painting’s legacy, from the Renaissance to Abstract Expressionism, by way of Impressionism, while reconfiguring the pictorial foundations in response to contemporaneity. In ‘24 Badges’ (2011), a work made of twenty-four pieces of aluminium irregularly shaped thus carefully placed, the artist depicts an illusory reality through fields of colour. Each piece, fixed so that it is slightly raised from the wall,
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articulates itself with its projection. These forms are filled by patches of colour which are often arranged in a horizontal line, inevitably suggesting the idea of balance, or the memory of a landscape. In the same year, with “Ácido”, Calapez returned to the underlying architectural references which have always informed his work. This time in an almost literal way: the work consists of eight pieces painted in acrylics, placed on bricks, thus creating a direct relationship within an architectural construction systems, once again according to an illusory plan that is typical of the pictorial tradition. The experimentation is subtle – not by playing with forms or materials, but rather by exploring their relationship
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13. 24 badges, 2011 Set of 24 aluminium panels painted acrylic 75 x 75 cm 14. Derrube #01 (Overthrow #01), 2011 115 x 85 cm
the works of Pedro Calapez take the form of a playful exercise.
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with space, and consequently involvement with the body and gaze of the viewer. The artist evokes the Baroque works of Gian Lorenzo Bernini and the Constructivism of El Lissitzky as points of reference. ‘Piso Zero’ was a piece displayed in 2005 at the CGAC in Santiago de Compostela, as part of an exhibition in which Calapez explores the confrontation between the experienced space and the constructed and objectified space. These works take the building itself as their starting point, with a set of sgraffito drawings on paint, depicting sketches of the building by Álvaro Siza Vieira, the architect who designed it. Here arises the seed of the cut-outs that the artist has been exploring over recent years. These cut-outs deepen the exploratory nature of Calapez’s work, letting us see the surface of the wall or the floor, creating intervals which interrupt the movement of the broad strokes of paint, or casting
complex shadows, multiplying the illusory effect and intensifying the phenomenological experience. The limits of the visual field are expanded to include the possibility that the viewer might move, thus creating a relationship-based dynamic typical of contemporary expression, where the exhibition space, long invaded by video and film, presents itself as something transient. Avoiding description or narrative, the works of Pedro Calapez take the form of a playful exercise. His suggestions are malleable, arranged in terms of the exhibition space, rehearsing how far away and close together things can be, as determined by the properties of the colour or the scale of the supports, allowing the viewer to see and read the works from a number of different standpoints. These characteristics, while making the work current, also ensure that it has universal qualities that will stand the test of time.
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1. Sinal para abrir inteiramente a boca (Signal to open the mouth completely), 2009 Wanted Articles series (série Artigos Procurados) Mixed media on paper 64 x 64 cm
ALEXANDRA MESQUITA
TEXT BY ART CRITIC MARIA JOÃO FERNANDES
“I write and paint, therefore I exist, and this existence can only be understood according to the oscillating planes of the continents of imagination, the realm of the individual and collective wandering of shapes.” alexandra.mesquita1@gmail.com
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The young artist Alexandra Mesquita is the heir to a great Portuguese cultural tradition, the blend of writing and painting, which brings together thought and visuality. Ana Hatherly was another European exponent of this art in the 20th century. Mesquita is the artist behind breathtaking explorations centred on large questions, such as the image that formed the motif for her 2002 exhibition, notably entitled Escrita Irrequieta (‘Restless Writing’).
2. Tempo desacertado (Disconcerted time), 2009 Wanted Articles series (série Artigos Procurados) Mixed media on paper 68 x 68 cm 3. Grito em unissimo (Hout in unison), 2009 Wanted Articles series (série Artigos Procurados) Mixed media on paper 64 x 64 cm
I have been following the brilliant and original career of this young artist since 1997, when she put together an installation with the brain as its central motif, a metaphor that would be taken up again in another exhibition in 2005, embodying the dreamlike discourse António Ramos Rosa that is her hallmark, along with her unique way of questioning Western rationality. The cranium is presented in a vitalistic boldly navigates the oceans of meaning, discovering style, as a tree trunk without roots, thus subtly suggesting new spiritual territories. Here she inevitably encounters the breakdown of the essential bond with nature as the protective figure of master Almada Negreiros, who a source of freedom and well being. In an exhibition in would have been pleased with her ingenuity, at once 1998 Mesquita wove the threads of a discourse capable poetic, intelligent, playful and lucid. In her work we also of facing obstacles to liberating thoughts and challenging see a long line of metaphors clad in our dreams and our the castrating effects of a civilisation that is bound up most ancient desires and impulses. In order to love, it in the tyranny of appearances. Yet she does not merely is necessary to bestow our love, and in order to do this challenge, but also wields a sense of irony that is at times we must speak only with images, not words, as in the innocent, reminiscent of childish Dada-style games. In sensory forms of 1998, reforging the link with reality. The her exhibitions she does indeed conjure a playful and ‘shuddering’ writings of 1999 show a veritable eruption magical alternative world – a fabulous realm made up of of paint, volcanic and explosive, depicting the possible astonishingly novel images and the words of an alphabet fates of the soul, which are inseparable from the fate that appears to be taken directly from a source of marvels spelled out by the pen. The writing is overshadowed by and the absolute freedom of poetry, as spoken of by the archetypal circle shape that dominates the piece in Rimbaud and António Ramos Rosa. an amorous dialogue, like an irresistible, overpowering sun in blue, the colour of dreams and a source of energy In fact, as the great gallery owner and art-lover Manuel for the life of the spirit. Mesquita’s array of bewildering de Brito has highlighted in his collection, Mesquita is the elements and playful, clever fantasies draws on the youngest Portuguese successor of the heralds of modern story of Penelope, but the artist also conjures up major thought, including Mallarmé (1842-1898), Rimbaud (1854figures from fantastical, modern and mythical thought, 1891) and Apollinaire (1880-1918), and the exponents uniting the destiny of man with that of the cosmos. of Dada, prizing chance and the intelligent humour of Spirals, circles and mazes appear in Escrita que se fia the artist, extending the wonderful vein of visual poetry (Writing from the spindle) (2000), a tapestry that is as that has dated back to the Baroque era. This weight of endless as life itself, and, like life, threatened by an responsibility does not seem to daunt the artist as she explosive precariousness that may be confused with the
“The Word is the desire for the space, and the space for the desire.”
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The heart as the source of new life, the spirit, the soul and the senses, capable of transforming or transfiguring itself, like the word, of which it is the loving image. The heart is aflame, burning so that all of the old meanings crumble away and thinking emerges purified, with the roots of the dream returned to it, to reinvent writing and, with it, life (Escrita Inventada (Invented Writing), 2009), in an explosion of metaphors that allude to the senses and the link with reality. Once again, the spiral is the predominant image, with its infinite circular movement suggesting the totality of the relationship between the cosmos and chaos, stability and movement, order and disorder – the vital dynamics of life as represented in visual art. Mesquita returns to these elements again in her 2010 exhibition Artigos Procurados (Wanted Articles), and in Soluções Comprometidas (Committed Solutions), from 2011, once again involving writing in the process as her chosen raw material for creation. All the threads found throughout her work are brought back together
image. The artist proceeds from the traditional media of canvas or paper to sculpture and installation in her series Objectos com problemas existenciais (Objects with existential problems) (2003), where the unusual is again combined with irony and the absurd in attractive yet purely imaginary structures involving everyday items. Mesquita takes up the thread of her Escritas habitadas (Inhabited writings) again in 2006, with their multiple meanings, between the abyss of the infinite and nothingness, ‘the infinite nothing’, setting up Sartrean existential doubts, albeit enriched by the brightness of the images and their magical potential. There is no paradox between infinity and nothingness, but merely a dance or a ritual of wonders involving writing and the re-enchantment of writing. As the Spanish philosopher and poet Maria Zambrano suggests, the heart (as seen in “Hearts with Bad Temper” exhibition, 2008) is the central metaphor of this universe, as its beat within a woman, announces pregnancy.
4. Perigo indefinido mas sempre eminente (Risk always imminent but yet undefined), 2009 Wanted Articles series (série Artigos Procurados) Mixed media on paper 68 x 68 cm 5. Amostra com corantes destablizados (Sample with undermined dyes), 2008 Invented Writing series (série escrita inventada) Mixed media on paper 140 x 140 cm 6. Labirinto sem fim à superficie (Maze without end at the surface), 2008 Invented Writing series (série escrita inventada) Mixed media on paper 140 x 140 cm
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in her most recent exhibition, showcasing the happy coexistence of objects and metaphors, figures and signs, animated by colour, with a youthful exuberance in which we might well glimpse the destiny of our culture. In these labyrinths of lines and vortices of signs the traditional imagery of writing breaks down to form figures emblematic of an anxiety that reflects contemporary worries and a sense of bewilderment. Made up of a thousand different marks, spirals entitled “Infinita Intermitência” (Infinite Intermittency) refer us back to the union of the beginning and the end, to the eternal renewal of a cycle in which the writer’s diligent hand is the protagonist, with its impulsive movement to sweep away the barriers to creation, tending towards an approach that abandons Western logic. Signified and signifier, in the words of Saussure, imply abstraction and an acoustic image, separating concrete reality from the realm of the senses, the magical place of poetry. The young artist is proposing something quite different from this traditional approach to language and writing.
associating it not with a sound, but with an image – with many images, which carry a sense of allegory, metaphor, symbol, or simple, crystalline poetry. The allegory appears when she writes the message that she is seeking to convey in visual terms, thus reducing its significance, and the metaphor arises when the title suggests a principal meaning, but one that is visually open to other possibilities, the symbol, conveying an enigma that surpasses our ability to express it in words. Its beauty lies in the way in which the image operates on the plane of our imagination, inviting us to make it complete within the realm of poetry. Sometimes these different planes coexist naturally as part of something both complex and simple. This is the secret and the most valuable part of this work, a picture that spatially interprets the meaning of the course of Western civilisation, given that writing, as the main concern of this approach, is a major vehicle for culture, and acts to express and foster that civilisation.
As an alternative, Mesquita offers a universal, allpervasive image of the huge magma-like mass of writing,
Alexandra Mesquita alerts us to mistakes: ‘immoderate confusion’, ‘infinite error’; vices ‘I think that I think that I think’; and situations: ‘infinite intermittency’. Yet she also makes positive statements (‘thinking strengthens’)
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7. Local especial para lavar a vista (Special place for washing the sight), 2011 Compromised Solutions Series (Série Ideias Comprometidas) Mixed media on paper 130 x 130 cm 8. Amor matemático com erro de cálculo (Mathematical love with miscalculation ), 2011 Compromised Solutions series (série Ideias Comprometidas) Mixed media on paper 130 x 130 cm 9. Ser orientado (To be oriented), 2005 Brains Ready to Serve series (série Cérebros Prontos a Servir) Mixed media 10 x 22 x 16 cm
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10. Ser olhocêntrico (To be olhocêntrico), 2005 Brains ready to serve series (série Cérebros Prontos a Servir) Mixed media 10 x 22 x 16 cm 11. Ser equilibrista (To be a juggler), 2004 Brains ready to serve series (série Cérebros Prontos a Servir) Mixed media 10 x 22 x 16 cm
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or uses irony (‘thinking cubifies’), and even raises questions (‘doubt is good and necessary’). One way or another, or in all of these different ways, we are witness to one of the most interesting examinations of writing by the latest generation of Portuguese artists. They are revealing the ghostly image of the twists and turns taken by a whole civilisation as though in the reflection of a mirror of the writing of an ancient mistake, perhaps the reflection of the error of Descartes, denounced by António Damásio, according to which we might formulate associations with art and poetry at once precisely and imprecisely. I write and paint, therefore I exist, and this existence can only be understood according to the oscillating planes of the continents of imagination, the realm of the individual and collective wandering of shapes.
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MIGUEL BETWEEN SPACE ÂNGELO AND MATTER ROCHA TEXT BY MIGUEL MATOS
Miguel Ângelo Rocha uses his sculptures to examine the space that surrounds us.
rocha.miguelangelo@gmail.com
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BETWEEN SPACE AND MATTER 1. This, 2007 Bamboo, plywood, gouache 20x37x18 cm Private Collection, Portugal
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2. Echo, 2007 Balsa wood, pinewood, plywood, acrylic paint, cotton fiber 75x75x37 cm Collection MUDAM, Luxemburg
While his creations relate to the physical dimensions of the viewer, they also raise questions about objects that we find familiar.
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3. Viridiana, 2011 Marine plywood, found wooden table, acrylic paint 190x 137x130 cm 4. L’Amour Fou / Memento Mori, 2006 Wood, M.D.F., canvas, acrylic paint, fount ladder 223x217x81 cm Private Collection, Coimbra, Portugal
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One example of this is the piece Viridiana, which has already been displayed this year in the foyer of the Hotel Tivoli on the Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon. Viridiana existed long before it became a work of art – part of it was a piece of furniture, and the rest was present in the imagination of the artist. It began life as a table which would later be transformed into something else. The table structure has disappeared beneath the curves that Rocha has imposed on it. It is a hybrid – an object transformed with cut wood. Its shape is no longer discernible within the sculpture; it has become an abstract object. Its points of reference and departure are familiar to us, but appear to have lost their way. Rocha’s initial ideas may have their roots in philosophical musings, but the objects that he works with, adding forms, are to a large degree the fruit of a process that has not involved much planning, and this is how they come to be. Sometimes his sculptures seem to take the form of three-dimensional drawings, installed in a space that the artist also incorporates into the piece. Although his work is focused on sculpture and abstraction, it is very closely related to the line and objectuality. Speaking of drawing, the artist does not only produce sculptures, but also drawings, in the
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conventional sense. “My drawings generally stem from the dimensions of the paper, which limit the things that I can do with it, particularly the way in which I can physically draw on the paper. Yet these constraints are not negative; they allow the drawing to take on its own particular characteristics,” says Rocha. His sculptures also often evoke the notion of lines, thus forming a connection with his drawings. His pieces have an architectural feel; they transform the spaces in which they are placed. As far as Rocha is concerned, drawing is necessary in order to understand what he can do. For this reason, his drawings are not merely studies for his sculptures – they have their own life. His sculptures are the end result of an evolution of ideas and sculptural concepts that may have been sparked by drawings, but they are separate entities. “My work is not defined a priori. Its effects only reveal themselves after the work has been finished. The idea grows,” says the artist. The intuitive aspect of Rocha’s work is vital if his creations are to come about spontaneously. This can be seen in works such as Unless the room is empty..., a sculpture/ installation derived from the structure of a table from which the artist removed the top. “I placed the
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5. Against the Wall. Towards the Rear, 2007 Balsa wood, pinewood, plywood, acrylic paint, cotton fiber 75x75x37 cm Collection MUDAM, Luxemburg 6. Big Western, 2008 Marine plywood, balsa wood, plastic containers, silk, gouache, egg tempera, 93x340x130 cm Collection PLMJ Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal 7. Unless the Room is Empty, 2007 Wood, found wooden table, acrylic paint 325x820x300 cm
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“the work has to have the ability to reveal itself.” structure in the room where I was working. In my head, my imagination, its position suggested a certain design. In that space, the table and its tilt began to suggest lines, and the piece grew from there. I began to cut out pieces of wood in a very rough and abrupt way, without smoothing them off at all,” he recalls. “This way of working is bound up in the precise moment and works best when I’m immersed in improvisation. Normally when I begin a piece I haven’t a clue how the finished result is going to look. I might have ideas and starting points, but none of my projects are ever fixed in the early stages.” As a result, the pieces that Rocha creates are difficult to describe in words. This is the artist’s very aim, as he believes that if an object is easy
to replicate with words, this implies that it can also be replaced by them. A work of art must be impossible to replace by any other form of language than that which is inherent to it. As Rocha says, “the work has to have the ability to reveal itself.” While these sculptures and installations call the space in which they are placed into question, they also demand some level of physical interaction with those who come to view them. With this in mind, Rocha says that he is “interested in setting up a dialogue with the people viewing the piece, establishing some sort of communication.” The viewer moves, while the work of art summons up a moment in time and space. The
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crucial element is the moment at which the object is glimpsed, the point at which it confronts the body of the viewer. When objects are integrated into the pieces they therefore lose their original function, yet still maintain a relationship with the viewer. “Very early on, I became used to working with the materials that I found around me,” says Rocha. Many of his pieces, once they are no longer part of installations, are reduced to a few small bits and pieces. “We are surrounded by lots of objects, and also by lots of rubbish,” he says. “We have a responsibility to think carefully about putting more objects out there.” In view of this, every piece that Rocha decides to exhibit is not just another object, but rather marks a greater attempt at communicating with the viewer and transforming the space, while always punctuating his work with a question mark.
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10. 8. Untitled, 2005 Wood, cement, porcelain, coffee 60x400x400 cm Private Collection, Lisbon, Portugal 9. Cartoon, 2007 M.D.F., paper, acrylic paint 43x28x21,5 cm Private Collection, Lisbon, Portugal 10. Untitled, 2006 P.V.C., cotton fiber, plywood, gouache 50x50x25 cm Collection Fundação Carmona e Costa, Lisbon, Portugal
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ascending PEDRObodies FIGUEIREDO TEXT BY MIGUEL MATOS
Like people performing yoga positions, the bodies that Figueiredo sculpts go beyond the mere material substance of their physicality. They rise above the earth, although they always remain fixed to it. www.pedrofigueiredo.pt www.pedrocfigueiredo.blogspot.COM
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“Where does the body end and the mind begin? Where does the mind end and the spirit begin? They cannot be separated because they are interrelated; they are nothing less than different aspects of the same, all-pervasive divine consciousness.” said the great yoga guru B K S Iyengar.
The figures created by the sculptor Pedro Figueiredo also attempt to transcend their own bodies and thus reach spiritual states, which we may observe, or even partake in as participants. Like people performing yoga positions, the bodies that Figueiredo sculpts go beyond the mere material substance of their physicality. They rise above the earth, although they always remain fixed to it. They stretch upwards in an elongated line, as though an invisible force were pulling and twisting their shape. “I like to play around with presence and absence, so there’s always a vertical line from the ground to the sky. That’s why my figures are always looking upwards.” But even as they attempt to rise, Figueiredo’s sculptures invariably have an instantly recognisable feature: their feet. These feet are enormous and out of proportion with each figure. This disconcerting aspect gives a certain weight to each piece and represents the roots of the dreamer or the one who spiritually ascends. Yet those roots, which form an almost perpetual connection to the ground, the earth, do not make the sculptures heavier; they remain light, sometimes appearing almost diaphanous, as they make their ascent.
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PEDRO FIGUEIREDO
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In Figueiredo’s work it is possible to discern references to important figures in the history of art, such as Picasso or Giacometti, but they are only references; every artist inevitably makes such references, unless they have been living in isolation their whole life. While we might see Giacometti in the vertical lines and extreme thinness of the figures, their giant feet are reminiscent of the disproportionality, disfigurement and deconstruction found in works by Picasso. The viewer may also be reminded of Brancusi. However, it would be reductive to suggest that Figueiredo’s art is an imitation or copy. Ultimately, his work is his own, although it draws on various influences, combining them with other elements to create these pieces, the product of the artist’s creative impulse. “I believe that an artist always has to be truthful,” says Figueiredo. “The moment I start creating sculptures in order to sell them, I cease to be truthful.” By “being truthful” he means art as the result of an uncontrollable impulse
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that comes from within. “Being truthful when making art means not knowing why you are doing what you do. I find it difficult to explain, because that’s how I go about creating my sculptures. It’s something stronger than I am. What’s more, I don’t believe in an absolute truth, but if I were not truthful in my art I would not be able to be universal. My work is my truth.”
the dichotomy between horizontality and verticality, with the way in which the figure occupies the space, and they way in which this is reflected in the body. Yet although his figures are naked, they are not eroticised. “These bodies – they don’t exist in nature,” he says. Before becoming sculptures, these bodies inhabited a different world from our own.
Figueiredo plays with both space and architecture in creating his shapes, whether these be anthropomorphic or zoomorphic. His sculptures may be based on the ground, a wall or even the ceiling. Viewers are forced to probe the space with their eyes, and to use their own bodies, walking around the sculpture in an attempt to better understand what they are seeing, and the place in which they are seeing it. In doing so, they also become aware of themselves and their physical reality. Figueiredo makes the space and the body more obvious through his sculpture. He is constantly playing with
It is important to highlight the scale of the sculptor’s pieces, as their dimensions relate to the body of the viewer in a very direct way. In fact, these figures are neither miniscule nor colossal; they are only slightly taller or shorter (depending on the specific case) than the human body. As such, they set up a theatrical interplay between the work and the viewer, as though the sculpture had sensed the human presence. The material from which these pieces are formed, whether in bronze or polyester resin, has a rough, unrefined feel to it, intensifying its physical feel and showing the marks
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of the sculptor’s hands and instruments. Figueiredo’s art is neither dehumanised nor conceptual; indeed, it represents the very opposite. Each sculpture affirms its presence in the world as a physical and living reality. Figueiredo believes that art has an enriching effect on the mind of the viewer, but only if he or she possesses the sensitivity to be touched by it, and the knowledge to be able to decipher it. According to the artist, “sculpture is able to show us another side to things or another possible way of looking at them, and it teaches people how to discover new worlds.” Moreover, art has the ability to transcend time and space. “Art is a way of becoming, a transition between the past, the present and what is absent; it is a sense of harmony and positive energy. It should always provide just enough, while forgetting nothing – neither the shape nor the space that surrounds it.” Figueiredo forges his path with his ideals and intuition as his companions. He believes that these “weapons” will lead him to discover a truth that will touch everyone who beholds his sculptures.
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PEDRO FIGUEIREDO
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TEXT BY CATARINA VILAR
Even in Portuguese traditional cookery, artistic inspiration can be found. Here is an example of how salt cod can be more than just a delicacy. WWW.NUNOSACRAMENTO.COM.PT/GALERIA
Portugal is a country full of contrasts, stunning landscapes, appetizing cookery and inspired artists, and here you will discover how all these ingredients come together to create the perfect recipe for an innovative exhibition. ﾃ考havo, a town in the north of Portugal, is no less than the Portuguese capital of cod and its Maritime Museum, which is exclusively dedicated to
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1. Sr. Gadus Morhua (Sir Gadus Morhua), 2012 by Mariana Gillot Sheet steel, iron, coins, wood, paint, rope and fishing net 207 x 120 x 40cm
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2. Sussurro del mar (Sea Whisper), 2012 by Mabel Poblet Mixed media, 256 x 100 cm 3. Albertina e os seus dois filhos (Albertina and her two children), 2012 by Gabriel Garcia Acrylic on canvas, 188 x 155 cm
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4. Saudade, please do not translate, 2012 by João Noutel Mixed media on cut out MDF, 60 x 160 cm
6. Untitled, 2012 by Délio Jasse Silver bromide gelatin process, 106 x 68 cm
5. Alegoria ao bacalhau (Allegory for cod), 2012 by Luis Repiso Acrylic on canvas, 100 x 81 cm
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this fish, is commemorating its 75th anniversary this year. The museum has very up-to-date facilities that are constantly being modernized as well as a centre for scientific research, Ciemar, which has been operating since last year. A new wing will also be opening its doors in December. An artistic ingredient has now been added to the mix. This has happened because the Nuno Sacramento Gallery, which is also based in Ílhavo and is dedicated to contemporary art, was inspired by the events associated with the commemorations and invited a group of visual artists to create a collective work on the theme of cod. This is therefore the opportunity for visual artists to put their imagination and creativity to work in order to participate in an exhibition entitled BAKALHAU [KOD].
This innovative event, which will run until March 2013, presents works by around sixty visual artists from different countries who work in the areas of painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and installation. Duma Arantes, José D’Oliveira, Mabel Poblet, Délio Jasse and Lisyanet Rodrigues are some of the names in this heterogeneous group of artists. Portugal, Cuba, Angola, Spain, Poland, Argentina and Yugoslavia will be represented with inspiring works that will be shown in different spaces in the city of Ílhavo, including the Cultural Centre, the Maritime Museum or the new and modern Aquarium.
BAKALHAU
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ADRIANA MOLDER
INTERVIEW BY CARLOS DUARTE TEXT BY CATARINA VILAR
WWW.ADRIANAMOLDER.COM
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1. Goated-Feet, 2012 The Goat Footed Lady series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 289,5 x 98,5 cm
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She lets herself fall under the influence of the image, a still image from a photograph, or a moving image from a film. She bases her drawings on these images, adopting a figurative visual language.
2. Distanz (Distance), 2011 En La Casa Del León series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 147 × 146 cm
Adriana Molder felt a pull towards art from a very young age. One day she welcomed it and allowed her creativity to take its course. Born in 1975, Molder is a Portuguese artist currently living in Berlin. While in Portugal she studied Stage Design at the School of Theatre and Cinema, and Drawing and advanced Drawing and Fine Arts at the Ar.Co School in Lisbon. She found that drawing came naturally, and devoted herself wholeheartedly to this form of expression. For over a decade she has created portraits using her chosen technique for indian ink on tracing paper, the base of her work. Her creative process starts with finding photographs or stills from films, after which she gives her intuition free rein. The Casa das Histórias Paula Rego, in Cascais, Portugal, hosted a number of exhibitions in July 2012. The “A Dama Pé-de-Cabra” (The Goat-Footed Woman) exhibition– inspired by a story by the Portuguese writer Alexandre Herculano – we witness a dialogue between two artists, one of them celebrated Paula Rego, and the other with a number of successes already under her belt, Adriana Molder. Each artist carried out her work as part of a kind of challenge whereby the final results would only be revealed at the end. This sparked a series of artistic conversations between Adriana Molder and Paula Rego which are set to continue into the future. The characters which Molder selected for this strange narrative finally took shape in nine impressive portraits.
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3. Argimiro o Negro (Argimiro the Dark), 2012 The Goat Footed Lady series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 194 × 146 cm 4. Olhos brilhantes/faces negras/ boca torcida/cabelos eriçados (Bright eyes/black faces/twisted mouths/ bristling hair), 2012 The Goat Footed Lady series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 203 × 241 cm
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HOW IMPORTANT HAS THE EXHIBITION IN THE CASA DAS HISTÓRIAS BEEN IN YOUR CAREER AS AN ARTIST? I greatly admire the work of Paula Rego, so this was a very exciting challenge for me and Helena de Freitas, the director of the museum and curator of the exhibition. I don’t believe that artists fall within a hierarchy, but the experience of preparing for this exhibition was much more intense than it usually is. It was very important for the development of my work. We both work with figurative motifs but use different styles, and I found this partnership truly exhilarating.
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WHAT APPROACH DID YOU TAKE? I had wanted to work with Paula Rego for some time, and the Casa das Histórias is a fantastic space. For that reason I suggested to Helena de Freitas, that we put together A Dama Pé-de-Cabra. Paula showed some interest in the idea, and everything happened from there.
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LET`S BACK TRACK, WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO BECOME AN ARTIST? I like doing two things: drawing and cooking. I’ve drawn ever since I was little. Later I studied jewellery-making and Stage Design, but at a certain point drawing came naturally to me and took on a particular force.
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ARE THERE ANY ARTISTS THAT YOU PARTICULARLY ADMIRE? I really love the work of Rui Chafes and Jorge Queiroz. I also love the work of Sandra Vásquez de la Horra, Tomasz Kowalski and Nathalie Djurberg – all figurative artists. I particularly admire Richard Serra and also the work of José Pedro Croft and Helena Almeida.
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YOU LIVE IN BERLIN. WHAT DREW YOU TO THE GERMAN CAPITAL? I had visited Berlin a number of times and had friends there, so it was only natural that I ended up renting a house and staying there. It’s an easy-going city; it allows me the isolation I need in order to work. There are lots of cultural events going on and it’s not an expensive city, so I can live from my work and afford a good studio. I spend the whole year there – I do go to Portugal about four times a year, but my permanent base is in Berlin. I move in artistic circles, as it’s a city of artists from all over the world, and there’s a great openness among us all. I can be part of that scene, but can also keep myself separate when I wish. Berlin is the kind of city where you can stumble upon new artists and new exhibitions every single day.
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CAN YOU STILL FEEL THE INFLUENCE OF DADAISM AND BAUHAUS THERE? Berlin does have architecture from the Communist era, from the Nazi era, from Bauhaus School … You can feel the weight of history, but it’s easy to free yourself from it. The younger generations are creating a brand new story. Berlin isn’t the kind of city where you will make much money from art, but you can let your creativity run free. You can live on a little and achieve a lot – there’s something very appealing about that.
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JUMPING OVER TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD, YOU ARE AFFILIATED WITH THE ART PLURAL GALLERY IN SINGAPORE, WHICH EXHIBITS CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS FROM DIFFERENT COUNTRIES. The gallery is owned by the Swiss art dealer Frédéric de Senarclens. I did an exhibition there in January 2011, and it went very well. The art scene is just taking off there, and it’s growing. It’s being driven by different artists and the emergence of galleries and collectors. It was fantastic to see members of the public from all over the world at my exhibition.
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YOU DO A LOT OF PREPARATION USING PHOTOGRAPHS FOR YOUR PIECES, AND THE RESULTS ARE INVARIABLY MONOCHROMATIC. WHERE DOES THE COLOUR GO? I’ts been working in black and white for a long time and recently I added red colour to my drawings. I grew up surrounded by photography books as my father is an artist, a photographer (Jorge Molder), and for a long time I was his assistant. So I definitely have a strong affinity with black and white. But I also have a very special affection for the cinema, and often my works are based on an image that I’ve pulled from a film. There are incredible images to be found in many films, and they don’t necessarily need to have been made by very well known directors. I tend to be drawn to a particular character or image, which might even come from a blockbuster.
5. Onagro Ensanguentado (Bloody Wild Horse), 2012 The Goat Footed Lady series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 146 × 194 cm
6. Sem Culpa nem Inocência (Without Guilt or Innocence), 2012 The Goat Footed Lady series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 146 × 194 cm
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ARE THE DIMENSIONS OF YOUR WORKS SIGNIFICANT? I started out drawing on A4 paper, but I have enlarged the scale. I like my works to be 2 metres across. It’s vital that the work is physically bigger than I am, as it opens up the question of whether I am conquering the space or losing control. In terms of technique, I use Indian ink on tracing paper, so I do manage to retain some degree of control, but when massive accidents happen there are lots of things that I can’t fully dictate, and I really like it when that happens.
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CAN VIEWERS ONLY UNDERSTAND YOUR CHARACTERS IF THEY HAVE X-RAY VISION? It’s best to spend some time just looking at my drawings; the more you look, the more your eyes will discover. Normally I use more than one image as inspiration. There’s a first draft which is overlaid by layers of ink, so there are faces within faces. You can see these with a little time and persistence. It takes a little while to really get to know the work.
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HOW DO YOU DISSECT STILLS FROM FILMS IN A MONOCHROME PIECE OF WORK? I can see colour in this India ink technique. Perhaps the red isn’t a colour at all, as it works too well with the black. The colour of an image is transformed into
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7. Iceberg and Volcano, 2011 Mad About the Boy series Ink and Acrylic on tracing paper 150 x 100 cm 8. My Icarus, 2011 Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 100 x 80 cm 9. O Canto da Dama (The Singing of the Lady), 2012 The Goat Footed Lady series Ink and acrylic on tracing paper 217 x 195 cm
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brightness when I apply my technique – the glossiness of the saturated black ink on the paper. I also use white acrylic paint, which focuses attention on the different areas of the drawing. Basically, I like to experiment.
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WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON AT PRESENT? It will be strange to go back to the studio after having done this exhibition with Paula Rego. I have some time without the pressure of any impending exhibitions (in October I took part in a group exhibition in Berlin and another in Greece, showing my new work), so I’d like to go back to trying oil painting. Painting means using
colour and it needs time. Drawing is intrinsically fast. I like to create challenges in my techniques. Colour sometimes comes into my work with oil painting, but only rarely. I’m not a painter – drawing is my thing, as it requires a speed which I find particularly pleasing. I really enjoy working in this way – intuitively. I buy films that I haven’t yet seen and pull characters that I like out from them, or images that I find attractive. They inspire characters for me to draw.
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WHERE DO YOU SEE YOURSELF IN FIVE YEARS? I’m only thinking three years ahead, and I hope to still be in Berlin.
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CREATOR OFALBERTO IMAGESPLﾃ，IDO INTERVIEW BY CARLOS DUARTE
www.albertoplacido.net albertoplacido02@gmail.com
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1. Aerial, 1999 - 2005
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2. Brancos, 2005-2009
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ALBERTO PLÁCIDO PORTUGUESE PHOTOGRAPHER ALBERTO PLÁCIDO WAS BORN IN 1965. HIS CAREER IS CHARACTERIZED BY THE ARTISTIC RECONSTRUCTION AND CONFRONTATION OF THE “LANDSCAPE” USING PHOTOGRAPHY AND OTHER MEDIA CONDUCIVE TO A STRONG RELATION BETWEEN THE PUBLIC AND HIS IMAGES. HIS RECENT PROJECTS AND NOTED EXHIBITIONS INCLUDE. TEMPO (CAAA GUIMARÃES 2012, EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE, ARTHOBLER), ECO, “PAISAGEM EM MOVIMENTO” (CULTURAL CENTER TECLA SALA, BARCELONA; GALLERY TRÁFEGO, PORTO), “COSTA” (AMÉRICO NUNES CENTRE, SINES) AND “INSCAPE” (BARTOLOMEU 5 GALLERY, LISBOA). ALSO IN 2001 WERE SHOWCASED “SOLITE/INSOLITE” (AT THE IV BIENAL OF CONTEMPORARY ART IN NIMES), AND “CASA DE SONHOS”, IN PORTO – ALSO DURING DE EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE.
You work in a range of visual disciplines. Would you simply describe yourself as a ‘photographer’ or do you consider yourself to be a ‘creator’ of images?
Every image-related exercise that I have carried out over the past fifteen years is in one way or another directly related to photography. Although it’s part of a broader spectrum of image creation, it is a highly specific medium and has characteristic properties unlike any other. Despite restricting myself to photography as a means of expression, I am also, like any photographer, a creator of images in the broad sense of the term. In the search for a more wide-ranging vision of photography, by exploring its limits, I ended up making use of other visual disciplines in order to experiment with and explore the limits of photographic language. To this end, installations are a clear form of experimentation. Judging by the history of photography, it is also natural that it should be mixed up with other forms of expression. When photography is placed in a broader context, something to which it is no stranger, it becomes impregnated with meanings that it cannot unravel on its own. In this respect the use of installations, as well as my more recent use of video, respond to this aim. Installations introduce other means of expression in an all-embracing manner, introducing other dimensions that photography lacks and conferring on the photographic image values which would not otherwise be detectable.
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Taking the installation Monsaraz as an example, while it remains a photographic image exhibited in a space, just like all the others, the way that it is read is transformed by the fact that it is placed in a chapel, suspended in a place where the old altar would have been and related to the light conditions in the space. It expands into a multi-dimensional form; it triggers relations in which the space comes to be an integral part of the way that the photographic image is read. It introduces the question of time. The time needed to move through this space to the photograph is no less important, given the low level of light in the building, the time that the eyes take to adapt to the interior light is like the process by which the photograph is ‘developed’ (analogous to the development of the photograph in the laboratory). In spite of this, the photograph remains the central element in this installation and does not abandon its identity. It is interesting to analyse what this installation says about photography. Even photographic works which require a purely orthodox technical approach (the Brancos project, for example) are framed within the same principle. These photographs were taken on a high mountain, on foggy days, and are situated at the limit of legibility. On the one hand, the absence is defined by the lack of visible objects (so dear to photography) and, on the other, the
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absence results from excess, an excess of blinding light. The prints in this exhibition reveal the photographic paper more than the emulsion, from which the silver salts are practically absent, taking them to the limit of what defines a photographic image.
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IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES A GOOD IMAGE? In my view, a good image mainly depends on its context and, no less significantly, the concept, after which come all of the fundamentals that define a good image, such as the framing, theme, composition etc. I think that it’s essential to have the right tools to interpret an image, whether it’s a photographic image or another kind. It is up to the artist to place it in a context in which it is coherent with his message, where it makes sense. If an image is interpreted out of context, this clearly limits the way that it is read. However, this does not prevent images from having the ability to migrate between contexts, or even beyond the intention for which they were created; but what it does mean is that when this happens, the necessary tools must exist so that observers can interpret the images in their new ‘life’.
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WILL ALL OF THE IMAGES BE HUNG IN AN ART GALLERY? WHY OR WHY NOT? Art is not something that can be defined by the fact that it is in a gallery, or any other place for that matter. This is insinuated but not stated. The fact that I have a personal body of work does not mean that I will define it as art. That depends on the person who sees it.
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TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT THE TRANSITION FROM FILM TO DIGITAL. Although I don’t think that it really matters what process
3. Limit, 2007-2009
5. Terra Nova, 2008
4. Monsaraz, 2004 Installation
6. Between the sea and the sky, 2004 - 2011
is used to create photographs, the type of camera that is used is important, in my view. In fact, in normal conditions, and in relation to the final result, I don’t care whether I take digital or analogue photographs. I opt for the simplest form and the one that grants me the greatest control with which to achieve a goal. However, even when I obtain similar results, the process is not a matter of indifference to me, not because of the results but because of the way that each medium forces me to think about the act of photographing. In my case, and because I’ve taken analogue photographs for over twenty years (in medium and large formats), the camera that I choose depends on what I’m aiming. In digital photography, which I use quite a lot, even though
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ALBERTO PLÁCIDO
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7. Aqua, 2012
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I achieve results that are, in every respect, similar (or even better) to what I can achieve with analogue photography, a completely different approach is required in relation to the act of taking photographs. In my case, I don’t have enough discipline to stop and think before shooting. I shoot first, a lot, and then I ‘reshoot’ afterwards when I select the final images. I think that I reflect more after I’ve taken the photographs than I do beforehand. In the case of Large Format, which I still use, the opposite is true. Given its specific nature, the time that it takes and the cost involved, it forces me to think before I shoot. It is a more mental and sometimes a more precise process. One is not worse than the other. They’re just different methods that, in my case, influence the choice of camera that I use and consequently the final result.
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DO YOU DO YOUR OWN POST-PRODUCTION AND DO YOU CONSIDER IT TO BE AN INTEGRAL PART OF CREATING THE IMAGE OR JUST A MEANS TO ACHIEVE AN END? I always do the post-production work on my photographs. Over time, I have acquired the knowledge and tools that I need to satisfy my requirements and it is mainly a tool that I use to achieve a goal. I still haven’t worked on a project that uses this process as a means of creation, which does not mean that I won’t do it in the future.
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WHAT IS MOST GRATIFYING FOR YOU AS AN ARTIST? It is an endless challenge. There are no boundaries, there is no right or wrong, no absolute values. Art imposes a rigorous discipline and a degree of coherence that are difficult to find in everyday life. It is a process that involves a certain level of obsession. Given that I move in two different photographic worlds, the world of personal work and that of commercial
work, I take a wide-ranging view of photography as being, on the one hand, a pragmatic and objective form and, on the other, a relative and more abstract form. The medium is the same but in this case it serves two purposes. The photographer is the only common point. I could even say that photography forms an integral part of my life and therefore defines me as a person, it’s part of my identity.
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YOUR WORK IS VERY SERENE. THE PORTFOLIOS AEREAS, ENTRE O MAR E O CÉU, LIMITE AND TERRA NOVA HAVE A CALMING EFFECT. DOES YOUR WORK REFLECT YOUR STATE OF MIND? The landscape, by definition, fosters serenity. It is a mental contraction. In my case, it is strengthened by the absence of people from my photographs and by the fact that they almost always depict the natural landscape. This is an exercise that I’ve been carrying out for a long time, the absence of humans (but not his traces). This absence has intensified in recent years, to the point where the presence of humans has completely disappeared from my photographs (although, ironically, the more I remove them the more I feel their presence). In a certain sense the result reflects a state of mind, although it is relative since it ultimately depends on each observer. In my more recent works, the landscapes that I seek are places where man’s presence has had little impact. Places like the sea, the night, storms, fog; these spaces that I seek out are normally ‘silent’, where the physical presence of people is limited or non-existent. At night people sleep, in storms they take shelter, in fog they come to a halt. They are deserts, in their way. This result, in which a state of apparent calm is reflected, is something that has increasingly intrigued me. In some cases it reflects photography’s ability to ‘deceive’, though not through what it shows but through what is absent. It removes each and every trace that might give away what takes place beyond the frame. Thus, for example, in a recurring (perhaps too recurring) theme, the sea is one of the elements that I always shoot and, regardless of the fact that it lies off our coasts, it offers us a pure and serene landscape, even if chaos breaks out at our back (which is often the case).
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WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE YOUR CAREER TO BE IN FIVE YEARS’ TIME? Dedicated exclusively to personal work.
ALBERTO PLÁCIDO
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WWW.ANASERRA.CO M
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URBAN OS BURGUESES OPERA
TEXT BY CATARINA VILAR
The buzz of opening night can be felt from behind the scenes. Everything is ready in the dressing room, and the great and the good are taking their places. WWW.OSBURGUESES.COM
1. An Opera for a New World Heritage Collection Summer 2012
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LIFE IS A STAGE, AND INSPIRATION IS ALWAYS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. OS BURGUESES ARE DRESSING THE CITY WITHOUT THE SLIGHTEST ELITISM OR BIAS. THEIR WORK IS FOUNDED ON AN ARTISTIC APPROACH; NOT A SINGLE CUT OR STITCH IS APPLIED ARBITRARILY – RATHER, EVERYTHING IS IMBUED WITH A SENSE OF PURPOSE THAT GOES FAR BEYOND THE ACT OF MERELY CLOTHING THE BODY. THEIR CREATIONS INCORPORATE STORIES, ART AND INNOVATION; EACH COLLECTION IS PART OF AN URBAN OPERA.
Mia and Eleutério are the creative minds and designers behind the Os Burgueses brand.
2. Dr. Henry & Mr. Hyde Collection Fall 2012
5. Jane Doe’s Saga, Nuclear Winter Collection Fall 2011
3. Dr. Henry & Mr. Hyde Collection Fall 2012
6. An Opera for a New World Home Collection Winter 2012
4. Jane Doe’s Saga, Nuclear Winter Collection Fall 2011
7. The designers Mia and Eleutério
and made its mark immediately with a vision that owed little to established norms. They received firm support from from the Art in Park Co-op based in Lisbon, who granted them a space to set up their studio and showroom. Their pieces soon began to be worn by the public. They made their debut at Moda Lisboa (Lisbon Fashion Week) and were voted Best New Talent at the Fashion TV Awards gala. They believe that creating means running risks, and their
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Having graduated in Design and Fashion at the Architecture Faculty of the Technical University of Lisbon, in 2002 Eleutério began to sketch out the seeds of an idea that gradually took root. At first their paths diverged, as they worked in different areas, but one day Mia agreed to her ex-classmate’s proposal that they form a creative duo. Both committed to the same script, and their concept has now evolved over a whole decade. The brand was officially founded in September 2009,
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creative process never strays from this path. Both were born in Lisbon in 1985, and attended the same class at university. EleutĂŠrio studied painting, violin, theatre, classical ballet, contemporary dance and tap dancing, while Mia has always loved the cinematographic side of life. Both designers believe that fate brought them together, and that they are destined to devote themselves to a common vision. During the creative process their respective visions come together to form an ideal union in the clothes that they design. Together they question each other, disagree, concede and reinvent; their vocation requires the skills of a poet.
search of a place to call home. This formed the theme of the Os Burgueses Winter 2013 collection.
They started out by presenting their debut collection, Jane Doe’s Saga, which reflected the way in which they were searching for an identity for their brand. Between spring 2010 and autumn 2011 they dedicated themselves to this work, adapting it to each season. Their next collection, An Opera For a New World, was launched in summer 2012, followed by a winter collection. They adopted the motif of an aviator, a little prince and a rose spiralling around each other in a whirlwind, in
sentimentality. They then proceed to set out a new concept and draw up a new script for it, thus infusing their raw material into the next project.
They have devoted themselves to seasonal collections of designer clothes. But these are much more than simply well-cut pieces in well-chosen materials that hang beautifully and feature exquisite prints. Each new piece of work is seen as a script. From this script emerge fragments of the main story, manifested in collections, editorials and fashion shows. Making art happen. When one of their stories has come to its end, they finish the chapter and move on to the next one, without
Every Os Burgueses fashion show or presentation transcends the traditional catwalk format. Instead, they stage performances, making use of video, sound, photography, illustration and installations to showcase their operas. In doing so, the pair have shown that they are much more
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than designers with aesthetic aspirations. They have both stayed true to their vision: that the fashion of Os Burgueses should be artistic, without abandoning its commercial aspect. They do not create pieces that are aesthetically beautiful but impossible to wear; their objective is rather to bring about a perfect union between these two worlds. Their creative work has included designing costumes for plays, and they are also responsible for actors’ wardrobes. In terms of the movies, they were also behind
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the costumes for the film RPG, designing outfits for dozens of characters. They were firm believers in this project, and gave it their all. Another of their challenges is designing uniforms, including for the Ritz Clube, renown music venue and night club in Lisbon. Os Burgueses have already conquered Portugal; their clothes are sold in shops in Lisbon, Oporto, Coimbra and Guarda, and, as of recently, Barcelona. Their aim remains to explore new markets wherever there are people for whom wearing clothes means more than just throwing something on. Each piece is a kind of affirmation, an identity, a form of art. The duo put everything into their brand. They are utterly committed, and only when they know that they have given their all do they let their creations leave the basement where they have their studio, and see the light of day. For the time being, Mia and EleutĂŠrio spend all day and part of the night there, surrounded by fabric, machines, irons and their essential tools, needles and thimbles. Costumiers, interns and other designers collaborate with them, and all have the right to voice their opinion as part of the creative process. A new opus is in the making, and once again Os Burgueses are risking everything, making sure that their attention does not stray from the task in hand until the curtain goes up.
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8. An Opera for a New World Heritage Collection Summer 2012 9. An Opera for a New World Heritage Collection Summer 2012 10. Jane Doe’s Saga Reborn Collection Spring 2011
11. Holly Sebastian Summer 2013 12. Jane Doe’s Saga Reborn Collection Spring 2011
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LUÍS TAKLIM Drawings that speak volumes TEXT BY CATARINA VILAR
Luís Taklim brings together words and images, forging a perfect marriage out of these two elements.
www.anyformsdesign.com
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1. Measures to contain a disease within a city Magazine Science et Vie JĂşnior, 2012
WE TALKED TO THE ARTIST ABOUT A FORM OF VISUAL COMMUNICATION THAT DECONSTRUCTS REALITY AND FOCUSES IN ON THE DETAIL. Much ink has already been spilt over the question of whether an image is worth a thousand words. There is little room left for discussion between the advocates of one form of communication or the other. Computer graphics are a medium that remains unclaimed by either of these factions; rather, this is one area in which they complement one another. The struggle between them is transformed into cooperation, and Taklim acts as a kind of arbitrator overseeing the truce between the different forms of communication. His argument is that computer graphics are a form of visual communication, and he has dedicated himself to this medium. He explains that this concept combines three
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different elements: aesthetics, speed and efficiency. He likes to surround himself with books, magazines and newspapers, and is always aware of what is happening in the world of graphics. His references are publications such as National Geographic, the New York Times, Science et Vie and El Pais, ‘but more inspiration sometimes comes from comics’.
2. Archaeological finds - shell mounds of Muge - Portugal National Geographic Magazine Portugal, 2011 3. Technical identification of underwater volcanic eruptions Science et Vie Magazine, 2011 4. Palace of the Marquis of Pombal C.M.Oeiras, 2012
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5. DaVinci Surgical System IESS Magazine - Espirito Santo Saúde, 2011 6. FPSO - Floating platform for oil extraction Galp Magazine, 2011
Despite his enthusiasm for superheroes, this is not simply the story of someone who was fascinated by maps and drawings as a child. Rather, his entry into the world of graphics was dictated by fate. He began his working life as an illustrator for magazines, but was eventually transferred to the computer graphics department. ‘In 1994 techniques for layout, illustration, graphics and even printing were still relatively undeveloped. Computers were beginning to be mass-produced, but instead of recognising their massive potential few people knew what they could do with them.’ Taklim recalls that at that time computer
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graphics boiled down to a few diagrams, and a large number of tables and bar charts. Only in 1996, after two years of learning through experience, did he dedicate his attention to more complex and interesting tasks, with the aim of making graphics much simpler and more visual. ‘The results were a long way from what I had hoped, and it was only in 1997 that I had the chance to go to a conference and an international computer graphics workshop in Pamplona, which made me realise the need for communication and quality information. I think it was only there that I really embraced my interest in this area.’ Taklim begins a new project by doing as much in-depth research on the subject as possible. He then proceeds to do some sketches by hand and gets an idea of the space needed, the dimensions of the images, fonts and any details, as well as the composition of the whole narrative. Only then does he start to think about the appearance of the graphics and illustrations. ‘Nowadays I try to find the most effective approach for the subject and for the client. The style of the illustrations can be manual, done on a computer, 2D or 3D, or even based on photographs. After the client has approved a model that demonstrates the concept of the work, I push on with the final version. Taklim was in the vanguard of computer graphics and was able to watch how it developed, seeing how IT processes in the 1990s gave design and illustration the chance to reach stratospheric heights. ‘We have already achieved things beyond our wildest dreams. The internet, mobile phones, digital cameras, game consoles and GPS have brought about a world where ever greater and more complex data collation and creation is possible. We have already reached the point where we have too much information.’ With these new technologies we have been able to communicate more through images, and this has changed the rules of the game, opening up new possibilities. ‘These developments have changed everything: the way we obtain information, how we organise ourselves, and how and what we create.’ MAPS THAT SHOW US THE WAY In 2001 Taklim founded the company Anyforms, Design de Comunicação, which currently has five employees creating computer graphics for various clients from Portugal and abroad. The work that they have produced
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over the years has been published in Spain, France, Angola, Germany, Italy, Greece, the US, Poland, the Netherlands and China. They have won awards and accolades for their work from National Geographic International and have been published in El Mundo, La Vanguardia, and Science et Vie, along with many others. Taklim is no elitist, but when asked where he most likes seeing his work, he admits that he has a special affection for print publications focused on history and science. Taklim continues to produce computer graphics for magazines and newspapers, but today the main focus of his work lies elsewhere. Like the explorers of old, he and his team are devoting special attention to a project that has borne much fruit since 2008: making maps. Indeed, maps allow real treasures to be revealed, from monuments and historic cities to palaces and gardens. Public and private areas of land both in Portugal and abroad have already been mapped, a task which
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requires much dedication and attention to detail; each map can take two to six months to create. ‘In most cases we work from a 3D illustration, but occasionally we base our maps on photos’, he explains. City centre maps highlight monuments and buildings that draw tourists, as well as public transport, to make life easier for visitors. The level of detail is such that Taklim and his team might even highlight a garden surrounding a stately palace: ‘Sometimes the client asks to emphasise the fruit trees!’ Whether the computer graphics are used for these maps or to explain the inside of a digital camera, research is crucial: ‘I’ve even had to research quantum physics!’. Everything begins once the team has received plans of the areas and the topographical background, allowing them to create a 3D model that will then be illustrated. These projects require the team to go to the area in question several times and take detailed photographs,
7. City of Guimarães map C.M.Guimarães National Geographic Magazine Portugal, 2012 8. Map of Initiatic route at Quinta da Regaleira Sintra Portugal, 2011
in order to replicate the original as closely as possible. ‘Our aim is to ensure that people can use the maps to navigate, following the information and not getting lost.’ At the end of the process, everything is reviewed in minute detail. Adjustments are made when the work is re-edited; everything that has changed on the ground is reworked, and each roundabout, new building or road is scrutinised. The team devotes itself to the painstaking task of making straightforward information and navigation two faithful allies.
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HÉLDER OLIVEIRA HÉLDERIllustrated Discoveries OLIVEIRA
1. The legendary sparrowman, 2012 Personal
TEXT BY CATARINA VILAR
He spends hours in his studio, trying to discover the perfect formula for each illustration. A dose of research is mixed with a sense of creativity and experimentation to produce something that never compromises on quality and invariably surprises the viewer. Konstriktor.net
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“The fact is that I consider myself to be more of a scientist than an artist. I like to capture an idea in analogue, and then work on it digitally.”
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His house lies at the heart of an imposing mountain range. The view from the doorway is dominated by green, with the landscape punctuated by trees, giving the scene the enchanted air of a pastoral painting. Yet it is within the walls of his house, near Setúbal, Portugal, that Hélder Oliveira gives his imagination free rein. His computer and digital tablet are always close at hand as he draws, experiments and illustrates, creating pieces that will end up on the pages of major newspapers, magazines, publicity campaigns and book covers, for both Portuguese and foreign clients.
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2. Inovation I, 2009 Mural 3. Inovation III, 2009 Mural
Behind all this technological paraphernalia is a bench that is always laden with the traditional tools of paper, pencils and paints. These often form the starting point for a project, to be developed using digital means further down the line. “I like to mix multiple platforms, experimenting with lots of different things. The fact is that I consider myself to be more of a scientist than an artist. I like to capture an idea in analogue, and then work on it digitally. I do almost everything with a digital pen, even sketches – that way I’m not wasting paper, so it’s more environmentally friendly. The computer is
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just another tool, and the more I explore what it has to offer, the better. In digital form, the paints never run out, except when there’s no electricity.” Just like in human relationships, there is often an initial surge of all-consuming passion at the beginning of a project, which later passes, returning to a more reasonable level and becoming something different. Yet in his relationship with his work, Oliveira tries to ensure that he never stops feeling the butterflies in his stomach that signal the start of something good, inspiring and stimulating. The flame is to be kept alight: “I want to maintain my burning passion for illustration, so I need to give it fuel every day.”After several years of dedication to the art of illustration, he can say with some certainty, “I try not to give my work a distinctive look. I force myself to resist falling back on a particular style or language – I don’t want to be restricted to a certain image, to have people see my work and instantly know that it’s mine.”This illustrator likes to experiment and discover different ways of working, rather than settling for a standard method. “I experiment a lot and often it doesn’t come to anything, but that doesn’t matter – I can just go back to the beginning. Essentially, I like to surprise people, and to be surprised in turn.” This really is a case of a love affair with illustration. At the age of 12 Oliveira began to copy the heroes from his comic books, and later one of his teachers encouraged him to make a foray into the world where drawing is king. He hardly ever let go of his sketchbook, making copious doodles. He ended up by not taking a fine arts course, but launched himself as a self-taught painter. He took a teaching course in visual education and technology, which allowed him to explore ceramics, stained glass and sculpture. “I am particularly fond of the act of creating, and this is common to all of the arts.” Today most of his time is spent on illustration, but he is also a teacher at the Bela Vista School in Setúbal, where he passes his knowledge of art on to the younger generation. OPENING AND CLOSING DRAWERS Oliveira has always loved painting, and there came a time when he wanted to broaden his horizons both in terms of technique and what he could achieve on canvas. He bought a computer and started to explore the possibilities, expanding his knowledge. When he
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won a competition held by ETIC (Escola Técnica de Imagem e Comunicação) in Lisbon, offers of work started to flood in, and he has worked in this area ever since. He likes to innovate, working with photography, drawing and painting, and using 3D imagery where necessary. “I like to try out the best of each world and make it work for me.” Having a good online portfolio has helped to open doors; in fact, many clients have come to Oliveira through his blog. His illustrations stand out by offering something different, and he likes the way in which there is almost always room for him to let his imagination run free. “Of course, there are some clients who don’t allow any freedom whatsoever. Sometimes they require a specific product, and there’s no leeway at my end. But when I’m doing illustrations for the press I normally have more room to interpret the concept.” There are occasions on which he only has been briefed on a new piece of work to start clicking away, and a picture of what he is going to do emerges immediately. “Other times I read the text, and then spend a day just thinking about it, until something occurs to me. Alternatively, I might do some more research on the subject, as sometimes there are extra details that are worth capturing. I don’t like the illustration to be too obvious – instead, I want it to make people think a little, look at it carefully and analyse its content.” Oliveira believes that a good illustration has to be intelligent, without being too complex, so that it can be absorbed easily. This balance is not always easy to achieve. Sometimes he has to depict a political situation, but he does not consider his work to be cartoons – “I’d say they’re more like humorous illustrations of particular situations”. He likes the subtlety of black and white illustrations, but most requests are for his work in colour. He admits that he is no good at multitasking, choosing instead to do one thing at a time. “I open a drawer, do the project, finish it, close the drawer, and move on to the next thing. I don’t like to miss deadlines – I can’t, because then I’m unlikely to get more work.” Oliveira believes that the art of illustration is universal, without language or territorial barriers, and he admires the work of fellow Portuguese artists: “André Carrilho is one of the best in the world – he’s at the very top.” As he sees it, they are all making use of a language that transcends borders. These days, he also recognises that clients may come from anywhere in the world, because quality will always trump distance.
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4. Long distance call, 2011 Personal 5. João Lúcio, 2010 Editorial
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6. Sickness and Power, 2011 Editorial 7. Tied Up, 2011 Editorial
Oliveira might not have a white coat or a rack of test tubes, but he pours his body and soul to each of his illustrations, with the same dedication as that of a scientist. He has already made many discoveries in his artist’s laboratory, testament to the fact that this is a professional who tries to be in the vanguard and explore ideas that might lend to something really different.
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N I E D A M UGAL T R O P TEXT BY CATARINA VILAR
THE ARCHITECTURAL WONDERS BEQUEATHED BY THE GREAT MASTERS, THE MAGIC FORMULA CONTAINED IN A TEST TUBE AND THE DETAIL THAT LIES WITHIN A SINGLE PIXEL; THIS IS THE ESSENCE OF EVERY SHOE PRODUCED BY THIS SUCCESSFUL PORTUGUESE BRAND. WWW.GUAVA.PT
1. Archi.TEC. Collection Autumn&Winter 2011-2012
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In a field dominated by men, a Portuguese designer is proving more than a match for Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo. Unafraid of taking risks, this young woman has given her label the name of a tropical fruit, Guava. InĂŞs Caleiro has researched, dreamed and put into practice an idea which has already won over the public. She is proving that designing shoes is a form of art whereby the artwork escapes from the confines of the museum, and instead accompanies the wearer with every step.
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Inês Caleiro has always had artistic tendencies; when she was younger, she enjoyed doing origami and would design and make jewellery to sell to her friends. She studied graphic design, with an emphasis on fashion. Upon completing her inicial studies, she then went on to England to study Fashion Accessories at the London College of Fashion where she excelled in the area of footwear. Caleiro’s designs while at school earned her the distinction of being the best student in the course. This acolade got her an internship at the prestigious fashion label Jimmy Choo, where for six months she dedicated herself exclusively to designing luxury shoes. Sucesseful entrepreneurship has traditionaly run in her family, however when she began to draw up initial plans for her own business she never dreamed that her brand would become a success in such a short space of time. As Guava was in the inicial stages, at the same time she trained in production design in order to cement her knowledge in this area while working at a jewellery company. These four years that she lived in London were fundemental for acquiring knowledge, training and experience. From there she moved to Washington DC, where she interned at a furniture company. Along with tables and chairs, she carried on designing shoes, which was still her passion. In 2010 the Guava project began to take shape. Once the designs had been drawn up, it was easy to settle upon a name (guava being one of her favourite fruits), and Caleiro swung into action,
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contacting shoe factories in Portugal. The production line was operational within a year, along with a sucesseful online store, while shops in Portugal and abroad were already showing interest in her shoes. Along with a strong and effective online positioning and countless ‘likes’ on Facebook, the Guava machine was up and running. Caleiro’s shoes are made for walking. They do not seek merely to reach new aesthetic heights; functionality is one of her objectives. A great deal of thought goes into the design, heels, structure and lines, however any foot that finds itself in one of these shoes is bound to feel comfortable. Caleiro is concerned with making her designs ecofriendly, and uses vegetable leather tanned using water-based processes. She eschews exotic skins, opting only for those of animals that are already being used for consumption. Her first collection demonstrated what we might expect from a designer with such creativity: passion for design and an emphasis on geometry and architecture. She follows closely the work of the world’s foremost architects, and wanted to reflect this admiration for their art through her shoes, with the Archi.TEC collection. She draws inspiration from the world around her, whether from her travels, books or a particular building. The following collection focused on the technological buzz which is enveloping society, and the Pixel collection is homage to the digital realm. In Lab, a subsequent collection, she
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2. BACK UP from Pixel Collection Spring&Summer 2012 3. NANO from Pixel Collection Spring&Summer 2012 4. PIXEL from Pixel Collection Spring&Summer 2012 5. NORMAN from Archi.TEC. Collection Autumn&Winter 2011-2012 6. PABLO from Archi.TEC. Collection Autumn&Winter 2011-2012
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8. PARTICLE from Laboratory Collection Autumn&Winter 2012-2013 9. ION from Laboratory Collection Autumn&Winter 2012-2013
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conjured up the image of a laboratory in which brightly coloured test tubes sit in rows, giving the high heel a whole new look. She has already made a foray into a different area with her men’s line, showing that men too can be innovative with their shoe choices, and this has brought with it new challenges. Caleiro is a veritable one woman show. Recently she has employed PR help and an intern who works alongside her, but apart from that she is responsible for all of the work required by the brand, from thinking up the products to the final sale. She is now delighted to see her efforts bearing fruit as her business grows in a way that she would never have imagined two years ago.
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Caleiro would like Guava to become a luxury brand. It already has a sunglasses line, and plans for suitcases and belts are under way. She hopes to one day have her own shop, and perhaps a café and Guava spa. Dreams are a vital element for this enterprise. Guava has been created in the image of its maker, and Caleiro’s horizons have no bounds. Shops in Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan and the United States are already selling shoes by this Portuguese brand. The world is her oyster. The seductive geometric lines of Caleiro’s creations leave us in no doubt that shoes have replaced diamonds as a girl’s best friend.
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MARIA SALGADO - WHAT - Painter - WHERE - Lisbon - AGE - 22 - CONTACT - msalgadoribeiro@gmail.com - AT - www.mariasalgado.tumblr.com
MARIA SALGADO WAS BORN IN 1990 IN LISBON, PORTUGAL. GRADUATING FROM THE FACULTY OF FINE ARTS IN LISBON, MARIA SALGADO IS CURRENTLY ATTENDING A MASTERS PROGRAM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS LONDON.
She has participated in several group exhibitions like “Once We Were Heroes” at Centro Cultural de Cascais (May-June 2012) and her latest show “XXV Salão de Primavera” at The Estoril Casino (July 2012), an exciting exhibition designed to promote the work of the graduating students from the Faculty of Fine Arts Lisbon and Oporto. This last exhibition, Maria was awarded with an honorable mention by the faculty. She held in March of this year a solo exhibition at the Natural History Museum in Sintra, Portugal. Maria works in other areas such as the plastic arts, illustration and design but oil painting is where she devotes most of her attention. Her objective is to bring her art to an international level but at the same time maintaining a strong Portuguese identity.
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1. Landscapes Oil on paper 210x500cm (set) (70x100cm each one) 2. One bone 100x150cm Oil on canvas 3. Mupi #1 Oil on offset print (publicity posters) 175cm x 120cm
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4. Chair, 2010 Oil on canvas 70x100cm 5. Mupi #2, 2011/12 Oil on offset print 175x120cm 6. Mupi #9, 2011/12 Oil on offset print 175x120cm 7. Triptych Interior Landscapes, 2012 Oil on canvas 150 x 270 cm
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LEANDRO GUARDADO - WHAT - Image maker - WHERE - Lisbon - AGE - 35 - CONTACT - leandroguardado@gmail.com - AT - www.leandroguardado.com
LEANDRO GUARDADO IS MULTIDISCIPLINAR: WRITER, PLASTIC ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER, WHO CHOSE IMAGE MAKING AS THE ESSENTIAL MEDIUM TO EXPRESS HIS ARTISTIC VISION.
As an image maker, Guardado creates surreal worlds from elements that are close to us. Apart from his studies in photography, he also graduated in anthropology, adding to his artistic dimension a quality more social and human. Of the two photographic series presented here: Epiphany results of a reflection on the richness and musical diversity. The series Obey looks to the human relationship with technology and its harmful effects.
1. Epiphany Orchestra, Epiphany, 2012 2. Dreaming, Epiphany, 2012
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3. Merismas, Epiphany, 2012 4. Imaginary Friends, Epiphany, 2012 5. Obey #1, Obey, 2012 6. Obey #3, Obey, 2012 7. Obey #8, Obey, 2012
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- LOOK - exbition at - WITZENHAUSEN GALLERY
- exbition - MUDE MUSEUM
- Presents - DUARTE VITÓRIA
WITH THIS VOICE I DRESS MYSELF - NOV 22ND / April 14th 2013
The portuguese artist Duarte Vitória was recently in Amsterdam with a solo exhibition entitled “MASKS” at the Witzenhausen Gallery.This project is the result of Duarte Vitória’s unending search for authenticity in human life. In this exhibition we’re taken on a journey through the doubts in existence, and the fine line between what’s real and an illusion, having all of our senses submerged in doubt and shocked by the great disparities that surround us are here and put on display.The artist makes the viewer see that the key to being freed from all the questions is to find oneself. After this success Duarte Vitória is currently working towards another solo exhibition this time at the Witzenhausen gallery in New York. You can visit this exhibition between January 17th and February 20th 2013. Witzenhausen gallery also choose Duarte Vitória to be present at Context Miami art fair happening December 5, 2012. More information at www.witzenhausengallery.nl
“With this voice I dress myself” is the name of the exhibition opening on November 22nd at the MUDE Museum of Fashion and Design and at the Museum of Fado, in a unique collaboration meant to display the design surrounding the traditional Portuguese music genre. With two major focuses, the display is divided between the new image of Fado singers - such as Mariza, Carminho and Ana Moura – showing what they wear and their stage and album designs; and the old image of Fado, highlighting its origins and evolution. The exhibition is a showcase of visual strenght, with many iconic images and audiovisual details.
- exbition - GULBENKIAN FOUNDATION THE PLACE OF THINGS - SEP 21ST / JAN 06TH 2013 “The place of things” is the name of the latest exhibit by Carlos Nogueira. Reuniting a bit of all his work and composed mainly by rarely and never-before-seen pieces, it uniquely displays the different strands of his work. Nogueira works in a variety of languages and techniques (such as sculpture, installations, performance – in the early years –, drawings, photography and design), always playing with the confrontation of polarities and experimenting with the variation of the meaning of the meaning of the piece in different contexts. The exhibit, curated by Catarina Rosendo, will be in display between September 21st and January 6th in the Gulbenkian Foundation Museum of Modern Art.
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- PRODUCT T@TRIS BY PEDRO MACHADO T@tris is the piece by Portuguese designer Pedro Machado that’s created a stir around the world with its innovative concept. Presented this April at the 2012 Milan Design Week, T@tris includes two square blocks (one on each side) and a table on top, along with several drawers. The piece, reminiscent of the shapes of the of the popular Russian video game after which it’s named, is a perfect combination of innovative design and ingenious usage of space, easily introduced in a wide range of contexts. It’s available in several sizes, finishes and configurations and can be acquired online at www.amolisboadesign.com.
- PRODUCT BOOX BY ALBUQUERQUE designing business BOOX was created from the ideas that it was time to bring out the millions of amazing images and stories that tend to be forgotten in books and magazines on the shelf. It’s a box specially designed to display those amazing pages as an expression of yourself and itself. Made out of a malleable foam rubber, balls are used to press the pages against the front to display them perfectly flat just as if they were floating. Only one screw is needed to hang it on the wall. The T-shaped hole in the back was designed to easily fine tune its balance whenever the weight is not evenly distributed. BOOX frees books and pictures from the restrained life of shelves and conventional frames. After October 2012, BOOX can be bought at BOOX online shop (www.boox.me) and soon in several design stores near you. Apart from Lisbon and Oporto, it’s expected to sell in London, Amsterdam and Berlim this year.
- PRODUCT ARC BY BAT EYE Arc is the latest piece by the portuguese art and design company Bat eye. Designed by Marco Sousa, it’s an ode to the city of Oporto and its architectural trademarks that inspire artists and tourists alike. 125 years after its construction, the iconic metal frame of the Luiz I bridge serves as base for the handcrafted sideboard, stepping out of its usual role as the majestic engineering piece that unites both sides of the river. Colorfully dressed in the same hand-painted white and blue tiles that adorn the city, Arc is a singular piece, worked by artisans that make its inside as outstanding as the outside. For more information on the piece and how to get it be sure to consult www.bateye.com.
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- NEXT Traditions with an irreverent twist. The restless art that seeks the endless bond between past and current Portuguese traditions in a topical language. WWW.dolivares.com Various symbols, like the “cocky” rooster, that come together in one piece and thereby seek a harmonious language among themselves. The ledgend of the Barcelos Rooster, Camões and his poetry, the tradition of the Minho province’s felegree and Portuguese embroidery allied to the irreverence of the artist who does not deter from blending the past with the present, bringing to the public an insight of unification determined and secure. We chose this piece from the very talented artist Manuel D’ Olivares because it represents a traditional symbol of Portugal in a contemporary vision. Look forward to the article on Manuel D’Olivares in our next issue along with our usual expose of Portuguese talent.
1. Por Mares (By Seas), 2011
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