Pedro Cabrita Reis still remembers that “enchantment” he felt when he saw, for the first time, the mosaic of the Ocean God, at the Museum of Faro. The piece, which made him feel «the sound of history», would end up marking a «very important step» in the artist's work. And so “Neptune” was born, an imposing sculpture, which since this Wednesday, September 6th, has a new home: Jardim da Alameda.
Opened in 2020, the piece has since been housed in the Museum’s cloisters.
Conceived on the occasion of the exhibition “Four Sculptures and a Self-Portrait”, with works from the Serralves Collection and unpublished works by the artist, the sculpture ended up being moved to the renovated Jardim da Alameda. But not by chance.
It is there that this tangle of iron works now stands – in Cabrita Reis, as he himself says, everything is very “telluric” – that the artist used to represent the wallpaper Roman mosaic of the Ocean God.
The inauguration was attended by the author who was to explain to the Sul Informação, at the end, what is the genesis of “Neptune”. What could have been just a brief conversation, ended up becoming a reflection on the artists' journey and much more, accompanied by a gin and tonic.
«There are artists who choose to have a kind of signature work: which has advantages in the market because it ends up being expected. I, throughout my life, changed several things», he began by saying.
Because, he argued, «an artist has to be a kind of barometer, a thermometer, in the way he sees and integrates the world and this is constantly changing».
And what does this reflection say about this specific piece?
«This sculpture is a little of all of that and also escapes from that; It's a sculpture that represents the beginning of something that I hadn't done until now: looking at other works of art and producing from them», responds the artist.
It is, therefore, a work that marks a «very important first step» in the vast journey of Cabrita Reis, who has already exhibited at the Louvre Museum (Paris) or at the Venice Biennale.
«In this case, it was the “Oceanus” mosaic that, at the time, immediately enchanted me with its beauty. Afterwards, you are always – I don't know if the same happens to you – in a state of emotion when you see something thousands of years old that has survived, when you realize that it was in a house, that there were people walking on top of it, children …», says the artist.
«That brings to us the life that I imagine is perpetuated in the stones of the mosaic. You feel the sound of the story, you almost see the people, and this all inspired me, producing a state of enchantment that is reflected in the decision to, from then on, make a sculpture», he adds.
From the entire mosaic, the artist decided to “isolate a less obvious element” and use it as a motto. It was not the face of the Ocean God, but rather a “kind of decorative pattern”.
«It's a circle, with a pentagon in the middle, which is repeated. I preferred to focus on an almost anonymous element, without a voice, but which was decorative and repeated, giving a formal and graphic consistency to this mosaic», explains Cabrita Reis.
The entire sculpture is made of iron and painted white, choices that were not casual.
«Today, we think we know that the Roman “entrepreneur” who ordered this mosaic to be placed in his home was someone who was linked to the sea. White is also the foam of the waves, in addition to, for me, having that interesting thing of being the optical mixture of all colors. White is not just the white of the foam of the waves, it is also the place where everything merges», reflects the artist.
As for the composition of the sculpture – all made with iron – it follows the work of Cabrita Reis.
«I have always had, throughout my life, a particular interest in establishing bridges with the world of work, workers, materials. For this piece, I used an iron that is extremely humble: it is what is used to assemble columns or pillars,” he explains.
The location of the piece was also not chosen at random.
«I was the one who chose the place! We came to visit this garden, even before it was redeveloped, and I was the one who decided on the site. There, where it is, there is, behind it, a very beautiful amphitheater of trees, a background that is not visually polluted with houses. You look at the piece and, through it, you see the blackness of the dark trees».
Now, as he himself said during the inauguration, the sculpture “starts to have the same value as these trees”.
“It becomes part of a forest of thought.”
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
Comments