Adriana Varejão and Paula Rego contemplate violence, energy buildings and the physique in Lisbon

‘On this exhibition, the physique is a central metaphor – open, fragmented, layered,’ says artist Adriana Varejão, whose works are at present being proven in dialogue with Paula Rego at Centro de Arte Moderna in Lisbon. ‘What you’ll see are works that discover these visceral qualities, sure, however not solely when it comes to violence or rupture. Additionally they communicate of historical past, reminiscence, and the porousness between cultures. My use of flesh, tiles, and wounds is a method of addressing not simply bodily trauma, however cultural and historic fissures. So sure, you’ll see wounds – but in addition therapeutic, complexity, and resistance.’

Pairing these two artists in dialogue here’s a pure sequel to a joint exhibition held in the direction of the tip of Rego’s life in Rio de Janeiro in 2017, which spotlighted the parallels between their work. From completely different generations and cultures, they maintain a shocking quantity in frequent, sharing a leaning in the direction of a visceral uncovering of oppressive energy buildings, usually translated via the lens of eroticism and violence.

Each artists grew up in port cities beneath army dictatorships, and whereas Varejão explored the implications of colonialism in her native Rio with literal rippings and gaps, Rego embraced implausible components in her work to replicate on Portugal’s dictatorship.

‘Paula’s work has moved me deeply since lengthy earlier than I met her,’ Varejão says. ‘There’s a uncooked, fearless power in her photos – a sort of friction between the intimate and the political – that resonates with my very own issues as a girl and as an artist. Although we hail from completely different geographies and generations, I really feel our works are drawn towards comparable territories: the grotesque and the home, the physique as a vessel for reminiscence, energy, violence, and invention. What drew me to this exhibition was exactly that sense of encounter – not only a curatorial juxtaposition, however a sort of affective choreography – a dialogue between two ladies unafraid to confront the world with depth and creativeness.’

Varejão has created new works for the exhibition, which spans six many years and a large number of mediums, from set up to sculpture, engravings and work. When two artists’ works are considered alongside one another, parallels are clear. Right here is Rego’s Triptych (1998), her sequence on abortion depicting ladies in ache on stretchers, the victims of misogynistic politics, sitting alongside Varejão’s Extirpation of Evil by Overdose (1994) and Extirpation of Evil by Incision (1994), her personal tackle the medical shortcomings in ladies’s healthcare. Different pairings are sometimes extra refined reflections on the artists’ preoccupations, reminiscent of in Rego’s defiant Angel (1998), displaying a girl in a gold skirt wielding a skirt, juxtaposed in opposition to Wall with Incisions a la Fontana (2002), Varejão’s vibrant azulejo tiles, slashed down the center.

‘I work primarily with portray, even when the surfaces may counsel in any other case,’ Varejão provides. ‘I by no means use actual ceramic, tiles, or flesh – what pursuits me is the phantasm of those supplies. As an illustration, the crackled areas are made with plaster to imitate ceramic; some open sections are supported with aluminum; and the flesh-like textures are sometimes formed with polyurethane foam. However all the things is at all times completed with oil paint. The tile-like surfaces, with their delicate designs and luminous presence, weave a sort of silent balm throughout the ruptures. This pressure – between the decorative and the bodily, the structured and the torn – is the place I discover a area for tenderness. It’s not about masking the violence, however about permitting magnificence and vulnerability to coexist, to complicate one another, and to ask the viewer right into a extra layered emotional expertise.’