VÊS.TRÊS :: ON ATTEMPTS TO (RE)MOVE
OPENING: 01.09.2021 (Wednesday | 3 - 7pm)
EXHIBITION: 02 — 09.30.2021 (Monday - Friday | 09am - 7pm)
atmosfera m, Lisbon | Rua Castilho nº 5
Know that we are strangers looking for a world. That we dive deep into the moments that remain. And every surface reveals a new self full of layers of old selves that we once were. Painting as art reminds us of how it was, but also makes us think about how it could have been.
The exhibition On attempts to (re)move portrays the countless layers we are left with as a result of life experiences. There are those who only make a sketch so that the world can see it as art, and there are those who take years to perfect their techniques so that the world can recognise them. Either situation deserves to be seen and appreciated.
Imagining what that canvas would have looked like if the line hadn't been so firm, if the hand had been inclined differently or if the painter had seen it from a different perspective. We imagine so many things the way we wish they had been. That's how art represents us over and over again. And, as in life, the work doesn't always follow the initial course. In response, we once again paint the version of the world we have now. The old hopes remain to encourage us to keep moving. Everything changes around us and the colours with which we imagined the sky change according to our displeasure, enthusiasm or pleasure. Sitting down, we remember those we are sure we haven't forgotten. As if it were a lie of which only we know the truth.
In this exhibition we see the past lived and the present felt and it's as if everything together represents a crowd. Just like the crowds we meet on the street every day. We are canvases. And so we are more than we show. And we've been so many other things that we had to let time transform us until we took on our current form.
Each canvas is a sign of someone who has felt enough to know that almost nothing is certain, no matter how much we wish it were. Certain canvases in this exhibition have been paused for a long time until they recognise themselves and follow the colours that the public can see today.
There are canvases that were painted white; but there was hesitation, the first traces were of anger, others of relief and others that meant letting go so that there could be movement again. These works - which were once the last layer - are now attempts to create something new. The past intention has lost its meaning, but not its existence. Therefore, the new form they take on today will never be able to make what they once were disappear. The same happens with the passing of life. Every adventure leaves its mark, no matter how much the ‘I’ changes. If you take a closer look, you'll see that nothing is ever completely erased, after all, nobody is a blank canvas.
We have to be sure that the world understands art as something perfectly unfinished and incomplete, a constant metamorphosis. Cycles of love that begin in us and end in this exhibition. We are deeply connected and eternally dependent on the art of rediscovering life through our eyes. Associated with those who feel, those who think, those who dream, those who go forwards and then turn back. To those who run without a destination, to those who have set their goals, to those who collect podium medals, to those who sit back. To those who have lost, to those who have won, to those who have caused pain, to those who have been pain before or after becoming love. To those who are certain or doubtful of their own existence. Feel what has been lived. What would your canvas look like?
After all, there are always those who count stars as a way of moving between lives. Perhaps this movement varies according to the secrets we keep, in tune with the beating of each heart.
Patricia Cesar Vicente
August, 2021