ABSENT FOR A WHILE BUT...

From tomorrow until sunday, I'll be staying in a charming town in the north of Portugal, near the Spanish border, to take part in a golf tournament. However, before leaving Lisbon I would like to share  with you my visit to an exhibition that, I presume, you may either like or hate what you are going to see. I would really appreciate your frank comments. It will be very interesting to know what Vasconcelos' s artworks (?) look at your eyes.  

Joana Vasconcelos, a Portuguese contemporary artist, became specially known internationally when she exhibited her works at the Palace of Versailles in 2012. The first woman and youngest artist to show her works in the Palace... The exhibition  was visited by 1.6 million people, which made it rank as one of the five most visited exhibitions in Paris in the last 50 years.

The neoclassical Palace (photo below) built after the 1755 earthquake, and residence of the Portuguese Royal Family until the establishment of the Republic, in 1910, is currently hosting many of Vasconcellos's most relevant works. 

Joana Vasconcelos's works are different... ingenious, humorous, irreverent, crazy, somehow…subverting pre-existent objects and daily realities into irreverent colorful and intricate assemblages by using traditional crafts and techniques with hand made crochet, knitted fabrics and even pre-existing materials.

She plays with her works in the different scenarios of the Palace with some sense of humor.

Sometimes, her interpretation of femininity is controversial and shocking, as it happens with 'Marilyn', the giant stainless steel   construction of a pair of high-heeled sandals made entirely of cooking pots and lids. The fact that Marilyn is that huge (13ft by 9.8ft) is supposed to be both a representation of the various achievements of women over the centuries and how modern-day women are expected to look beautiful in public, despite doing all the home chores. Despite the seemingly feminist message, Ms. Vasconcelos is actually an advocate for equal human rights.

'Marilyn" was sold at Christie's in London for the equivalent to US$765 thousands, at the auction "Post-War & Contemporary Art".

One of her most famous works is the so-called 'Bride', a  chandelier, which is five meters high and over two meters in diameter, features thousands of white tampons in place of bulbs or glass ornaments. Apparently this is a sexual work and so it was understood by the French curator as not appropriate at Versailles!!!

Her other works also make strong statements in their own ways. For instance, the project called the Perruque, features the cracked shell of an outsized egg which opens to release long strands of brown or blond hair.

Valkyrie Crown is a 'Gulliver' sized artwork on display at the end of the exhibition

The slide-show introduces other artworks by Vasconcelos that were on display, from the petit gateau, the stained glass window,  full steam ahead in red and green, war games, garden of eden (Labyrinth), Independent red heart (made of disposable cutlery) to Carmen Chandelier and the Lilicopter, a Bell-47 helicopter, which she has decorated with glass studs and ostrich feathers. You may ask...why ostriches? Marie Antoinette loved them and bred them in the gardens of the chateau to decorate her hats...  

~~ Enjoy the slide-show / Enjoy the weekend ~~

WHAT IS LAUGHTER?

What does it show? What does it conceal? What does it tell of those who laugh of what they laugh at, of the time and way in which they laugh? What's there in common between a clown's face and the Gioconda's smile? These questions and others made up an exhibition I visited yesterday.

It contained images, sounds, silences, voices, languages, quotations, icons, idols, symbols, imaginations, data, mirages and movements. It contained observation, exaggeration, distortion, caricature and criticism. 

One thing, however, was very interesting: it took laughter seriously: it started from laughter to arrive at laughter. But the point of departure didn't coincide with  the arrival and the same went for the laughter at the start and the laughter at the end. 

Laughing, laughter showed me that, as the Ancients well knew, great tragedy and great comedy are the two sides of the human coin...

 I left the exhibition with a good laugh.
Outside, a gorgeous sunset welcomed me. 
A young couple was watching  it... perhaps their way of celebrating Saint Valentine's Day, with a good laugh, too????

~~ THANKS FOR STOPPING BY ~~

WHEN I THINK OF SEA...

'Maçãs' Beach - 1918 - by Portuguese Malhoa  (1855-1933), a painter of popular scenes whose art is characterized by the use of intense light and the realism of the themes.

When I think of sea I think of Portugal. I loved my visit to an exhibition dedicated to the sea, which happened yesterday, on a wet rainy day. The weather stayed that awful all the way. It was windy and raining heavily that my umbrella was barely stillholding itself together. I was already almost totally wet when I stepped into the Museum. The Exhibition featured the many physical and symbolic representations of the sea over the course of four centuries of western painting (16th-20th centuries). Famous painters from ten different countries were represented in it, along with renowned Portuguese art painters.

Two painters painting the sea -1918 - by the Portuguese Malhoa

The aim of the exhibition was not to describe the history of the relationships that western societies have established with the sea over the centuries, but identifying the sources of their imagery through the painting produced in different countries and eras.
It was an amazing exhibition and obviously the water inspired theme was just perfect for a wet rainy day...

Taking photos was not allowed. I bought the catalogue and scanned some images to share with you.. By clicking each photo you can read the related title, painter and year. Hope you enjoy the slide-show...