Pure Visual Joy was born out of a meeting between the renowned Portuguese painter Jorge Martins and the architect and designer Martino Berghinz. Taking place at Santuário Galleria, the exhibition brings together the authorial universes of these two acclaimed artists, suggesting a dialogue between their works – all of which question, connect and influence each other.

These artists, who had already met at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, are once again sharing the same space. On this occasion, Martino Berghinz is presenting a seven-piece collection specifically developed for the gallery hosting the exhibition. These vibrantly coloured, deeply plastic works are an evocation of his hometown: Milan. The three maps of northern Italy, projected onto the floor, tell us “You are walking on Italian soil”, although they don’t use the word. This sets the tone for reading the other pieces. After all, what the artist is putting forward is a transfer of this commercial and industrial capital to Lisbon. And this becomes more or less evident depending on which piece we look at.

On the asynchronous mobile panel covering one of the gallery’s walls, there is a photograph of Milan’s Velasca Tower, a symbol of Italian modernism and urban regeneration after the Second World War. The orange graphics superimposed on the photograph remind us of an irreverent urban aesthetic. Using this colour – the leitmotif of Martino Berghinz’s work in Pure Visual Joy – is a bold decision that engages directly with some of the materials used. In particular, I’m referring to the use of signalling cones and reflective pieces. Such objects, essential to an urban environment, are (re)contextualised and stripped of their original role: they only serve to visually delight us.

In turn, Jorge Martins presents a slightly more sober visual universe. He is presenting a selection of graphite works on paper made between 1993 and 2008. A long way from having a specific thematic agenda, these drawings are filled with bodies populating the space without any hierarchical structure. The shapes, perched somewhere between abstraction and figuration, seem suspended in time and bound by zero gravity. This body of work is, admittedly, only a small fraction of a long artistic career. Nevertheless, this set represents his creative process. Drawing stands as a place of memory: an instrument for revisiting and concretising the immaterial. Matter encapsulates what once struck us as intangible – light and space become two-dimensional objects.

In Pure Visual Joy, formal and thematic analogies are irrelevant. The concept behind the exhibition seems to be synthesised in Martino Berghinz’s convex mirror installation. Hanging in the centre of the room, this piece mirrors Jorge Martins’ drawings, invariably becoming part of the piece too. The works of both artists merge into one. Rather than a way of discerning the affinities between them, it encourages us to think about them together. Because their works – distant in time and form – give rise to a single force field: a visual universe that is, after all, one.

Curated by D. André de Quiroga, Pure Visual Joy is at Santuário Galleria until June 21, 2024.