Portuguese Artists Invited to the Venice Biennale

51st Venice Biennale . 2005

Portuguese artists invited to the Venice Biennale

Joana Vasconcelos João Louro Vasco Araújo

Portuguese artists invited to the Venice Biennale The year 2005 marks Portugal’s biggest presence ever at the 51st Venice Art Biennale. Besides the official Portuguese representative – the “Intus” exhibition by Helena Almeida, curated by Isabel Carlos, to be presented in the Portuguese Pavilion (Scoletta Tiraoro e Battioro) – the artists Joana Vasconcelos, João Louro and Vasco Araújo are also present at the Biennale, invited by the curators María de Corral and Rosa Martínez. www.iartes.pt/bienalveneza2005

51st International Art Exhibition Venice Biennale . 2005 Portuguese artists invited to the Venice Biennale

Joana Vasconcelos

Joana Vasconcelos exhibits A Noiva at the Biennale, at the invitation of the curator Rosa Martínez. It is included in the show Always a Little Further and will be presented at the main entrance of Arsenale.

“Joana Vasconcelos is considered the most conspicuous young Portuguese artist of recent years. Working mainly in the area of sculpture and installation, she embodies the link between different generations and is a veteran of the young and innovative generation of Portuguese creative artists of the 1990s. Her mark and strong personality are revealed in the significance of her works via the banality of objects used in daily life, particularly in the case of a young woman influenced by anything related to design and architecture, due to both size and functionality. In a play on styles, many of her works seek to develop a meaning for these new esthetic objects, giving them a new pertinence, whether from the critical, functional or esthetic standpoint.” Agustin Pérez Rubio, Chief Curator of MUSAC (Museo de Arte Conteporáneo de Castilla y Leon, Spain) , in Play JV, Ed. Mimesis, 2004.

Joana Vasconcelos was born in Paris in 1971. She lives and works in Lisbon. A Noiva (The Bride), She studied at Ar.Co – Centro de Arte e Comunicação Visual, in Lisbon, from 2001 1989 to 1996. In 2003 she was awarded the “Fundo Tabaqueira Arte Pública” Steel, OB tampons prize for her plan to redesign a Lisbon square (Largo da Academia das Belas 600 x 300 x 300 cm Col. António Cachola, Artes), currently being prepared. She has exhibited regularly in Portugal Campo Maior and abroad since 1994. Noteworthy among her solo shows are “Joana Photo: Luis Vasconcelos Vasconcelos”, Passage du Désir/BETC EURO RSCG, Paris (2005); “I Lusas”, Casa de América, Madrid (2004), “Joana Vasconcelos”, Galeria Casa Triângulo, São Paulo (2004); “Marquise”, Galeria 111, Porto (2004); “Todas las direcciones”, Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporâneo, Seville (2003); “F.A.T.”, Galeria 111, Lisbon (2002); “Happy Lady”, Galeria Mário Sequeira, Braga (2001); “Medley”, Galeria Central Tejo/Museu da Electricidade, Lisbon (2001); and “Ponto de Encontro”, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto (2000). She has also taken part in a number of group shows, including: “30 artists under 40”, the Stenersen Museum, Oslo (2004); “Outras Alternativas – Novas experiências visuais em Portugal”, MARCO, Vigo (2003); “Nuevos Proyectos/News Projects”, Fundación NMAC, Montenmedio (2003); “Trans Sexual Express”, Kunsthalle Mucsarnok, Budapest (2002); “Paralela”, Galeria Casa Triângulo, São Paulo (2002); “Squatters/Ocupações”, Palácio da Justiça, Porto (2001); “Prémio City Desk”, Fundação D. Luis I, Cascais (2001); Galeria Luis Adelantado, Valencia (2000); and “Colecção António Cachola – Arte Portuguesa anos 80-90”, MEIAC, Badajoz (1999). She works with Galeria 111, Lisbon and Porto; Galeria Mário Sequeira, Braga; Galeria Elba Benitez, Madrid; Galeria Casa Triângulo, São Paulo; and Galerie Gilles Peyroulet, Paris. Her works are represented in public and private collections. Galeria 111, Lisboa - www.galeria111.pt Galeria Elba Benitez, Madrid -www.elbabenitez.com

02 Portuguese artists invited to the Venice Biennale

João Louro

João Louro exhibits Blind Image #47 and Blind Image #66 at the Biennale, at the invitation of the curator María de Corral. It is included in the show “The Experience of Art”, to be presented in the Italian Pavilion.

“The Blind Images of João Louro are paintings hidden behind acrylic sheet that to the viewer makes them cool and distant. The paintings come in a wide variety of sizes and often use just one or two colors, framed in black. Below fields of uniform color are titles taken from publications, magazines or newspapers which describe a situation that usually involves well-known figures from the artistic jet-set; at other times the very situations set out in the text facilitate the viewer’s Blind Image #47, 2003 recognition. The situations described in the title decode the image, as Acrylic on canvas, in the media, and are often important situations in art history, or enamel on Plexiglas otherwise moments taken from a film or even mere social occasions. 200 x 300 cm Private collection, USA. What unites them is the element of recognition offered to the viewer: a name, date, place, person.” Excerpt from the text “Lo.Lee.Ta” by Delfim Sardo, in Blind Runner, Lisbon, Fundação Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisboa, 2004, p.23.

João Louro (1963) lives and works in Lisbon. He studied Architecture at the University of Lisbon and later Painting at the Escola de Arte e Comunicação (Ar.co). His work was affirmed in the context of the 1990s, when doing a work of art became indispensably associated with awareness of the conditions of its production, circulation and reception. The works shown at the Venice Biennale were included in the "Blind Runner" exhibition, presented at the Centro Cultural de Belém in Lisbon (2004) at the invitation of the curator Delfim Sardo. They reflect the artist's maturity, continuing the exploration of issues related to image excess in the contemporary world and the problems associated with language use. His works use a wide range of current-day icons such as automobiles, signs, sound systems, neons and lights.

Galeria Cristina Guerra, Lisboa - www.cristinaguerra.com

03 Portuguese artists invited to the Venice Biennale

Vasco Araújo

Vasco Araújo expõe The Girl of the Golden West na Bienal, a convite da curadora María de Corral, integrado na exposição The Experience of Art, que será apresentada no Pavilhão Italiano.

The Girl of the Golden West is based in the story of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “ la fanciulla del west”, that consists in a love triangle between a girl, a sheriff, and a Mexican/ American bandit. These two men are in love with the girl and they demonstrate this passion through different ways that results in social abusements and different truths in a place where everything is extremely difficult, this scene takes place in California during the invasion of the Americans in the Mexican territory. The Girl of the Golden West, 2004 videostill From this point of view I had proposed to a common person, a black woman, that lives in United States and especially in Texas, to see and to make comments of this opera and this film through the way of the Human rights, from what is right and what is wrong in the society rules, and who is the hero of the story for someone that had suffer the punishment of being different. So this piece integrates my work by the way that how this Character/narrator identifies her self and how her self gives us to know a fiction story that becomes her own story and by this way she defines many identities, that goes from her to the other characters. It is with this that the public is confronted and so originates all the confusion about who is really the girl. Vasco Araújo

Vasco Araújo was born in 1975 in Lisbon, the city where he lives and works. He studied sculpture at the Faculdade de Belas Artes of the University of Lisbon from 1994 to 1999, continuing his education in the Advanced Plastic Arts Course at the Escola Maumaus in Lisbon, from 1999 to 2000. In 2002 he received the prize “Novos Artistas da EDP, Electricidade de Portugal”, for which he created the exhibition Sabine/Brunilde, shown in 2003 at the SNBA space in Lisbon. In 2003 and 2004 he was included the Core Program of resident artists at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (USA). In 2005 he took part in the Artist-in- Residence program at the Couvent des Récollets in Paris (France). He has regularly exhibited in Portugal and abroad since 1999. Noteworthy among his solo shows are “Dilemma”, Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst, S.M.A.K., Ghent, Belgium (2005); “Dilema”, Museu de arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto (2004); “Hamlet”, Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie, Paris (2004) ; “Sabine/Brunilde”, Prémio EDP Novos Artistas, SNBA, Lisbon (2003); “Yuill/Crowley Gallery”, Sydney (2002); “Project Room”, ARCO, Madrid (2002); and Galeria Cesar/Filomena Soares, Lisbon (2001). (.../)

04 Portuguese artists invited to the Venice Biennale

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He has also taken part in a number of group shows, including: “Dialectics of Hope”, 1st Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, State Museum of Rosizo (2005); “AMALGAMA”, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston (2004); “Europe Exists”, Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki (2003); “Solo (For Two Voices)”, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale, USA (2003) ; “Universal Strangers”, Borusan Art Gallery, Istanbul (2003); “Melodrama”, ARTIUN, Centro-Museo Basco de Arte Contemporaneo, Vitoria-Gasteiz (2002)/Palacio de los Condes de Gabia, Granada (2003)/MARCO, Museum of Contemporary Art of Vigo, Vigo (2003); “Trans Sexual Express, a Classic for the Third millennium”, Centre d’Art Santa Mònica, Barcelona, (2001)/Kunsthalle Mucsarnok, Budapest (2002)/Kiosko Alfonso, La Coruña (2002); “Some Enchanted Evening”, performance, Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisbon (2001); and “O carteiro toca sempre duas vezes”, Museu das Comunicações, Lisbon (2000). He works with the Galeria Filomena Soares in Lisbon and the Galerie Gabrielle Maubrie in Paris. His work is represented in public and private collections, such as the Banco Privado on deposit at the Fundação de Serralves, Porto; the Fundação de Serralves/Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto; the Centro de Arte Moderna/Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.

Galeria Filomena Soares, Lisboa - www.gfilomenasoares.com ......

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Institut of the Arts |Portuguese Ministry of Culture Comunication Department Tel. 21 382 5000 [email protected]

Mor information: Venice Biennale Press Office Tel. +39 041 5218846 - 5218716 - 5218857 Fax +39 041 2411407 [email protected] www.labiennale.org/en/visualarts/51iae/index.html

- The Experience of Art (Italian Pavilion) - curator María de Corral - Always a Little Further (Arsenale) - curator Rosa Martínez - Participating Countries (Giardini and Venice)