Algarve has long been in the exhibition of contemporary art pieces from the Serralves Museum collection «The Return of the Object: Art from the 1980s», which opened yesterday, Wednesday, in Faro. But there will also be a lot of Serralves in the Algarve, now that the municipality of Faro joined the Council of Founders of this institution, a statute that will allow to bring unprecedented exhibitions in the region, by renowned national and international artists.
Until February 19, the general public will have the opportunity to discover emblematic works of the Portuguese contemporary art movement, by various artists with links to the Algarve, at the Municipal Museum of Faro. Some of them, revealed to the Sul Informação the artist Xana, who has several pieces in the exhibition, were even produced in the Algarve.
«It's good to miss the works I did at the time. Most of them I did when I was finishing the Fine Arts Course [in Lisbon], or when I was already in Lagos, where I still live. I came to the Algarve in 1984 and I think that at least half of it did when I was already here in Lagos, so they have something of the spirit of the Algarve», he recalled.
The sculptures and artistic installations of Xana belonging to the Serralves Museum estate and those of the other artists represented – Pedro Cabrita Reis, Rui Aguiar, Gerardo Burmester, Rui Chafes, Harald Klingelhöller and Rui Sanches – were created when some of the artists were still very young.
As Xana explained, after the 25th of April there was a strong interaction between the artists, namely those studying at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts, and a great thirst for creating, even if it was with the materials that were more at hand, too. explained in this exhibition.
“From a distance, I find other meanings and make other readings, but I'm happy to still recognize myself in these pieces and feel them as mine,” he added.
This will be, moreover, a rare opportunity to see Xana's work on display in the Algarve, despite the fact that it is in this region that the artist's pieces are created, with work spread across important collections at national and international level. «I have almost no exhibition in the Algarve. I remember two exhibitions in different places in Tavira that included my works», he said.
The opening act of the exhibition «The Return of the Object: Art of the 1980s» is, therefore, a space for reencounters – in this case, of an artist with his own work – but also of first contacts, since this was the moment chosen by the Chamber of Faro to announce its entry into the restricted group of founding municipalities of the Serralves Foundation. An unprecedented partnership, as far as the Algarve is concerned.
«One of Serralves' missions is to bring contemporary art to everyone in the country. Therefore, for us, this moment of approximation and partnership with Faro it's an honor. We are very excited about it as Faro it is a very important municipality, where we will be happy to be able to develop our activity», illustrated Ana Pinho, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fundação de Serralves, in statements to the Sul Informação.
«We had already brought occasional exhibitions here to the Algarve, but we never had a long-term partnership, as we hope this one will be», he added.
«It's about using the experience, the know-how and the Serralves estate, to make available to the locals, but also the Algarve, a set of works that the Foundation has, which otherwise we would not be able to bring here. This is not a one-off collaboration, it is not just about inaugurating an exhibition, because by joining the Board of Founders, we become members of the Serralves Foundation and have a strong connection that will allow us both to grow over the years », considered, in turn, the president of the Chamber Rogério Bacalhau.
The Farense mayor also said that, with this partnership, Faro «you can drink the best Serralves has to offer, while allowing Serralves to come to the Algarve, which is the most important thing for us».
This first exhibition will be followed by others, and it is already agreed that the next one will be launched in March and, like the Sul Informação advances exclusively, will gather works by the renowned Portuguese artist José Pedro Croft, who will represent Portugal at the Venice Biennale, in 2017.
The exhibition «The Return of the Object: Art of the 1980s» is supported by «365 Algarve» program.
See photos from the opening of the exhibition:
Photos: Hugo Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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