(tempo) destempo at Plataforma Revólver
(tempo) destempo is an exhibition at Plataforma Revólver.
The exhibition, curated by Ricardo Escarduça, has the participation of six artists, André Banha, Catarina Mil-Homens, Dalila Gonçalves, Edgar Massul, Miguel Ângelo Rocha and Rita Gaspar Vieira.
At the entrance to the exhibition, in the foreground, we see Em branco (2022) by Rita Gaspar Vieira. A long, sinuous, suspended white mantle, composed of manufactured cotton paper, runs through the space. Small containers land on its innumerable undulations. Resembling aged suitcases, the pieces indicate recycled objects, some of them dented and macerated by time. The installation has evidence of other works by the artist, such as the intervention in recycled and reused materials, or the approach to themes such as the idea of the table as a place for interaction and sharing. Winding through the space, obliquely positioned to the room’s floor, it shows on the waved surface thin lines that cross straight through the mantle, showing a chequered pattern that we all associate with a set table.
In a room adjoining the one described above, we find Ápice Lento (2022) by Catarina Mil-Homens.
A white thread of fine cotton, covered with charcoal, appears at the top of the wall in perfect tension with the base. Depending on our position, the threads are warm or simultaneously reveal cold and warm[1].
The tension is reinforced by a rolled up sheet of white paper, which separates it from the wall. There is shadow and a bit of black grain vertically on the white surface in this line.
The line, as drawing, is trace on the surface or element in tension in space. In the room, there are at least seven lines pinned on the wall. They repeat the meaning and the constituent elements. They recall the strings of an instrument or the musical staves, adorned with bass clefs. If we regard the artist’s installation from this sound perspective, the rectilinear forms divide space and time rhythmically. They also recall the notion of silent lines and sonorities reduced to a minimum[2]. Yet we also see remnants of a Platonic idea of eternity, through an act of repetition, which one wishes to utter endlessly.
The porcelain piece Vazios (2019) by Dalila Gonçalves reminds us of artisanal know-how. The material is stirred by the artist’s hands and then pressed onto honeycombs, adding a rectiform texture.
Natural and artificial, functional and handcrafted properties seem to emerge in the artist’s experiments. The basis of these relationships of opposites, of these experimental games, of these transactions and fusions is often in objects.
Atrapa Sonido (Atrapa Sonidos series) (2019) and Pontear (2022) are other of the artist’s objects in the exhibition.
Edgar Massul presents Wine Drawings (2018), drawings made with red wine dregs and water on paper.
Próximo da fonte. Escrevo-te para ser o mais errado possível, perdemos o sabor original (2022) is an installation by the same artist. Massul uses different elements: black slate, UV-A light, fluorescent water, a submersible water pump, a tray, some cloths, eucalyptus branches, and reeds of various sizes. The installation is poorly lit. At first contact, we only see reeds vertically, protecting a complex system of objects in the background. Inside we see only a diffuse image of an irregular slate, a faint indigo light on top, emerging the crystalline sound of running water.
The sculptural pieces by Miguel Ângelo Rocha, in marine plywood, fluid and helical, intensify the slight organic connection between the works presented.
Finally, the installation by the artist André Banha, Segurei-te o pôr-do-sol (2008-2022). A housing-like construction made of pine wood, it emphasizes the idea of handcrafted know-how and translates one of the most consolidated messages of the exhibition: time, gesture, the body, handicraft, error.
(tempo) destempo is on Plataforma Revólver until December 31.
[1] Kandinsky, W. (2006) Wassily Kandinsky, Point, Line, Plane. Editions 70
[2] Ibidem