The artistic collective Policromia, which integrates the Algarve artist «El Menau», will be installed in the Municipal Market of Faro and bring (even more) creativity to this space in the Algarve capital.
The many artists that make up this group, formalized as an association about 3 years ago, will occupy the only two stores that remained empty in the Market building and will have a studio and an exhibition room on the infrastructure's terrace, sheltered by a protocol signed yesterday, Monday, with the municipality of Faro.
The agreement was, moreover, quick. As illustrated by the vice president of the Chamber of Faro Paulo Santos, who represented the Chamber in the conversations held with the association, from the birth of the idea of bringing the Polychrome to the Mercado Mercado until yesterday, the day the agreement was formalized, "just over three weeks passed".
Also on the side of the association, whose founding nucleus is composed of nine artists from different areas – but which has already added many more since its foundation – there is a desire to show work quickly, not least because creativity does not stop. «I think that in a month or two, we will have something to show», believes Élsio Menau, president of the Policromia association and one of its founders.
Those who visit the Municipal Market will be able, within a short time, to come across the most varied types of artistic expressions. «Our main areas are plastic arts and street art. We have held exhibitions with painting, sculpture, video, installation, among others. We want to hold exhibitions here and provide training in different areas», he describes.
The installation of Polychromy in the Market of Faro means that, for the first time, this infrastructure has all its stores occupied and operating regularly. And the last "hirings" were entities closely linked to the creative and arts sector - the ETIC school and the cultural association Policromia.
«We have made a great effort to have all the spaces in the Market occupied, and, starting today, that will happen. This brings a very big advantage for the equipment and for the activities that are developed here», illustrated the president of the Chamber of Faro Rogério Bacalhau, on the sidelines of the signing of the protocol for the transfer of space.
«This is a cultural association that, I think, can bring added value not only to the Municipal Market, but also to the city. They are all young artists, with great potential and a very strong connection to the University. They know, perfectly, the reality of Faro, at the level of other associations and other artists that operate here. Therefore, they are fully integrated, which will allow us to have here a set of synergies that can bring added value to Faro and increase our notoriety levels», considered the Farense mayor.
The Policromia association goes to the market on a lending basis, without any associated charge, but with the condition that it has to leave, if there is a proposal to occupy the spaces "for their original purpose", that is, catering establishments. «If that were to happen, in the near future, we will have to consider an alternative. But this space was without interested parties for a long time and there is no prospect that proposals will emerge in a short space of time», revealed Rogério Bacalhau.
Polychromia has roots in Quarteira, but bets on Faro to grow
The Policromia Cultural Association has roots in Quarteira (the postal code of this town of Loulé, 8125, is inscribed in its logo), but it is in Faro who wants to grow up.
“This is the perfect city. There's the university and the public we wanted, which doesn't exist in Quarteira. Here we have young people, UAlg, the Airport, Erasmus people… people we want to reach, who travel around the world. We want to have an open door to the world», illustrated Élsio Menau.
Élsio Menau, whose artistic name is «El Menau» , is the best known artist of a group of young talents, from the Algarve and beyond, who have collaborated for many years.
«We started working together in 1998 and we have been a formal group since 2001. In 2012, we decided to create the association, not least because we needed an identity, to grow more and take the next step».
The evolution of this group did not only happen at the level of legal personality. Most of its members are closely linked to the Visual Arts course at the University of Algarve, something that happened after the Policromia collective was created.
«We are almost all graduates or masters in the Visual Arts Course at the University of Algarve. The association was not born within the university, but most members ended up joining the university. Also, more members started arriving, coming from UAlg, which we wanted to add to have a more eclectic group. We are nine founders, but now we will be 40 or 50», revealed Menau.
«El Menau» was even in focus this summer, due to a lawsuit filed for an outrage against the national flag, due to his installation «Portugal na Forca», the artist's final course work. Despite going to court, ended up acquitted by the judge, who considered that the installation, where the flag of Portugal appeared “hanged”, was not intended to offend this national symbol, but rather to convey a message, through artistic expression.
The Algarve artist, who does not hide that he came out stronger from this episode, now guarantees that the work of the association of which he is president and co-founder will not be closed in the spaces he will now occupy, not even confined to the Municipal Market of Faro.
“We want to have patent exhibitions throughout the year. Afterwards, we will give classes in painting, sculpture, street art and video, among others. We also want to carry out rehabilitation projects for urban space and abandoned buildings. we want to reinvent Faro, erase the image of vandalism that exists and try to redirect those who do it to an art that is more recognized and less dirty, for the city, but without repressing them», he said.
This intervention, which will be carried out in the city itself, is also highlighted by the vice president of the municipality, Paulo Santos. The installation of Policromia in the Municipal Market, he considered, will contribute to the dynamization of the equipment, but it will also allow «working the city and starting to “invade” it, gradually».
Comments