There is a certain archaeological feeling when we enter Círculo Sereia, part of the Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra, to visit the exhibition Vista para o Parque by the artist Rui Sanches. The sculptures, quasi-faces, which project themselves in matter and space, wood, in this case, are presented in a quasi-form. In the drawings, we see a potential presence of kinetic art – works in a movement not only physical, but also mental. Some overlaps take us to cerebral kinetics, whose inhabitant – the canvas – allows us to access what was and what has become. The transmutation of mental landscapes, the insatiable artistic search for the perfect, intangible image, but whose quest is extremely necessary and naturally conveyed by the body. In this process, the exhibition space itself must be summoned as a means of search or even as a possibility of the objective – we see works on the wall, which add black lines to the white background –, a possible outline of simplified artistic thought.

The human and the architectural bodies are also compared – on one side, the organic, on the other, the rational, and we may even understand the reason for the overlaps in a third moment.

On the relationship between the Mermaid Garden and the exterior, it is best to transcribe a tiny part of the exhibition’s text, written by Delfim Sardo: “(…) the CAPC’s physical and architectural situation fits perfectly into this purpose: it’s an architectural mechanism for the production of images, it produces frontal perspectives which open up to the Mermaid Garden, whilst allowing movement, the opportunity to see the setback, turning the Garden into a setting. Here, the landscape acquires the picturesque side that underpins the sculpture (…)”. If this were a text written in real-time, I would return right now to the beginning of the quote and underline the “physical and architectural situation”. If we had to summarise the exhibition: the physical of the human figure, the body of the visitor who has access to different angles, depending on his wandering through the exhibition space, and the architecture, exemplified in the drawings, embracing the work of the artist and the body that visits it, almost as a haven from the quest for the image.

The thought as wind, the space as an open window.

Inaugurated on September 19, Vista para o Parque is open until December 30.