Press Release

5 March 2021

Paula Rego and Her Contemporaries

Curated by: Mara Alves Date: 1 June – 16 July 2021 Private View: 1 June 2021 (Online and in-person subject to Government announcements) Location: 12 Star Gallery, The European Parliament Liasion Office, 32 Smith Square, London SW1P 3EU, UK Website: https://www.europarl.europa.eu/paula-rego

Launch of an open call for up-and-coming artists to participate in the exhibition: “Paula Rego and her Contemporaries” – an Exhibition of Portuguese artists in the UK.

To celebrate ’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2021, the Embassy of Portugal in London is pleased to announce an open call for Portuguese artists living in the UK to have their work featured in the exhibition Paula Rego and her Contemporaries, in collaboration with the 12 Star Gallery. The exhibition is curated by Mara Alves and is supported by Camões I.P.

The project’s open call seeks to select two up-and- coming artists living in the UK who will be invited to produce works in response to the challenges facing Europe in the 21st century: the digital transition and its impact on the as well on the world at large; the development of a social Europe, with a particular focus on the EU’s role in the world.

Escape, 2009 In commemoration of the Portuguese Presidency Etching and aquatint. Image: 49 x 36.5 cm. Paper: 64 x 50 cm. Edition of 35 of the EU, Paula Rego will contribute eleven Courtesy Paula Rego and Cristea Roberts Gallery, prints to be exhibited alongside the selected London ©️ Paula Rego works, inviting us to look back at the past from an evolutionary perspective, and establishing a dialogue with the selected artists. As part of this exhibition, an etching entitled La Mano Muerta, which was published by Rego in 2020 from a plate drawn in 1962/4, will be shown publicly for the first time.

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The selected works should aim to prompt discussions around the changes our society is currently undergoing.

Mara Alves, the exhibition’s curator commented:

The aim of the project is to organise an exhibition, designed to promote Portuguese artists in the UK on a global scale, responding to the challenges that Europe faces in the 21st century. Furthermore, this project seeks to promote the visual production of the artists whilst offering a glimpse of ‘the Portuguese soul’ in its contemporary expression and its reaction to social issues on a global level.

When considering its social and artistic phenomena, Portugal stands as a nation of renewed culture: authentic, powerful and irreversibly globalised, yet with its creative roots untouched and uniquely understood by each artist involved in this show. Gifted with impressive technical and creative skills, and inspired by their thematic adversities, the artists remain rigorous within their linguistic production, willing to convey their imaginary universe and sensitive Scarecrow, 2006 Lithograph. Image: 101.5 x 68.8 cm. Paper: 101.5 x 68.8 cm. to the expressive dimension of their current Edition of 35 contemporaries.” Courtesy Paula Rego and Cristea Roberts Gallery, London ©️ Paula Rego

Note to Editors:

For more information see the links below:

Open Call details: (link) Gallery details: (link)

For more information contact: Curator Mara Alves on 07425089060 or [email protected]

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About the Gallery:

The 12 Star Gallery is run by the European Parliament Liaison Office in London. Its mission is to provide a platform for artists whose work celebrates the creativity and cultural diversity that is the hallmark of the European Union. In the 15 years since its opening, it has hosted over 250 exhibitions with works by both established and up-and-coming artists and designers from all across Europe and has collaborated with organisations such as the BBC, the , Glasgow School of Art, Magnum, the Royal Academy, the Royal College of Art, RIBA, Modern, UNICEF, and the V&A. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/

About the Curator:

Mara Alves is a -born artist, contemporary art curator and director of art projects with a degree in a Fine Arts and Curatorial Studies. She is studying an MA in Art History, Curatorship and Renaissance Culture in at The Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Mara has over 10 years’ experience in managerial roles within the arts industry. She currently manages and curates a series of art projects and is involved in the judging of several competitions aimed at supporting emerging artists.

In 2010, she founded the ‘A Arte Tem Lugar’ gallery and studio in Lisbon, where she developed and led educational and cultural workshops for students and the general public. In 2015, she set up PortugArt, a project to promote Portuguese culture internationally, before moving to London, where she currently lives and works. For three years, she was the Chief Curator and Manager at D Contemporary, a start-up gallery in Mayfair, dealing with both up-and-coming and established artists.

In 2018 Mara was a Guest Curator and Advisor for Caspia Contemporary Gallery and a Guest Speaker at various events, including COBA (Contemporary Balkan Art) and the International Art Congress, Brazil. Mara was appointed Head of Projects and Senior Curator at The Dragon Gallery for a period of eight months to develop its presence and growth within the art market. Mara has also been responsible for presenting and curating proposals for prestigious art fairs. The START Art Fair in September 2019 saw works by its first group of represented artists presented to a wide audience for the first time at London’s . https://uk.linkedin.com/in/alvesmara

Partner & Supporter:

European Parliament Liaison Office in the United Kingdom

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