Suzana Queiroga is a Portuguese-Brazilian artist who lives and works here and there, always in search of the sun in Lisbon or Rio de Janeiro. Although she is mainly known for her pictorial practice – in drawing and painting –, she uses various means to think about space, architecture, light and time. Often, this research goes beyond the two-dimensional plane to also take shape in large-scale installations – whether in an exhibition space or public space – or sculptures. In 2015, her work, which she has been developing since the 1980s, won her the Acquisition Prize at the XVIII Cerveira Biennial in Portugal.

In the Portuguese capital, Queiroga is exhibiting O Infinito na Caixa, a set of ten works – including paintings, a small sculpture and two works in relief – which gives the Galeria Bessa Pereira a new atmosphere. The show is curated by João Silvério, who emphasises the rhythmic and temporal dimension of the artist’s abstract compositions. These are almost organic forms, but their boundaries and contours are absolutely rigorous, respecting a palette of cold colours that, according to the curator, also recall a certain asepsis or analytical, laboratory distance.

Arranged in boxes – delimited by the very boundaries of the painting – or in layers, like modular pieces, these apparently static figures begin to move, dilute and blur over time. Thus, even in the fixity of the geometries he paints and constructs, Queiroga manages to restore the subtle balance of existences, the infinite becoming of life and poetry.

The exhibition is only on show at Galeria Bessa Pereira until Saturday 1 June.