At SP-Arte 2023, Portas Vilaseca Galeria presented a selection of works by represented and guest artists.
Among the highlights was the participation of the Colombian artist Leyla Cárdenas and the Brazilian artist Mano Penalva, whose works were in dialogue in the space. In common, they are contemporary artists who have their research and practice guided by radical sculptural strategies and by the image’s relationship with the space, with the fragility and resistance of supports and materials, with memory and with the appropriation and re-signification of different socio-cultural perceptions.
In another context, we brought together the poetics present in the works of artists Ayrson Heráclito and Silvana Mendes. Heráclito’s work derives from the idea of sacredness expressed in the rituals and symbolism of Candomblé, a religion he has been practicing for almost thirty years. Informed and instigated by the Afro-Brazilian cosmologies of orishas and voduns, especially from the Jeje-nagô tradition, the artist employs different languages in works that explore organic materials from these rites, used to their fullest plastic and representation potentials. He often draws on the performative aspects of the trance, of magical actions that evoke, purify and reorganize the energies, histories and memories of black heritage and colonial violence.
On the other hand, through her “affectionate collages”, Mendes pursues the deconstruction of negative visualities and stereotypes imposed on black bodies in the course of the Afro-Atlantic history. The artist turns to mural and wheatpaste posters as support for the dissemination of what she considers a “didactic decolonizing artistic practice”, seeking to debate the places of power in works of art, the elitism and the social/racial profile of artistic movements.
Another highlight was the participation of artist Zé Carlos Garcia, recently awarded at Madrid’s Arco art fair, for his set of sustainable sculptural work; and also selected to participate in the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil at Sesc 24 de maio, in São Paulo, in October 2023.
The gallery also presented new works by three guest artists: Arthur Palhano, Mirela Cabral and Paul Joseph Vogeler; in addition to the represented artists: Carolina Martinez, Deborah Engel, Íris Helena, Élle de Bernardini, Mulambö and Rafael Baron.
PICTURES GALLERY
by Estúdio em obra
