Imagens, signos e escrita nas coleções do Centro de Arte Oliva [Images, signs and writing in the collections of Oliva Art Centre]
19 march — 15 september 2021
Production: Centro de Arte Oliva e Biblioteca Municipal de S. João da Madeira
This exhibition explores the complex, rich relationship between the visual arts and writing in the fields of contemporary art and art brut/outsider art.
Since its origin, writing is linked to visual representation; alphabets are visual signs that emerged from the evolution of pictograms (drawings that represent objects). On the other hand, the letters, words, phrases and texts generate visual compositions that contain in themselves the powerful value of thought and communication, allowing for the circulation and transmission of ideas and knowledge. For this reason, many artists throughout the history of art (re) appropriated words in countless variations and contexts: some represent words, letters and alphabets (real or imaginary) in their formal and conceptual capacity: others, are also writers, poets and theoreticians; and there are artists whose work is deeply influenced and contaminated by literature and artists who resort to text and image to create narrative compositions, among a host of infinite possibilities. This exhibition brings together artworks from the Norlinda and José Lima and the Treger Saint Silvestre collections, both on loan at Oliva Art Centre; here, we can observe the multiple configurations and effects of writing on painting, drawing and sculpture in the work of each of these artists.
Imagens, signos e escrita nas coleções do Centro de Arte Oliva takes place in the context of the Festival Poesia à Mesa [Poetry at the Table Festival], a project of the São João da Madeira Municipal Council.
Artists
Albuquerque Mendes
António Sena
Artur Cruzeiro Seixas
Carlo Zinelli
Graça Pereira Coutinho
Harald Stoffers
Henri Michaux
Janko Domsic
Joana Rosa
Josef Rädler
Prophet Royal Robertson
Rui Chafes
Rui Serra
