RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
[ARTIST IN FOCUS]
Portuguese artist Rui Calçada Bastos built a very diverse practice in which absence, displacement, communication and self-knowledge are key elements. He reveals the poetic and narrative potential of forgotten details, imperfections and evidence of human disturbances. In 2016, Rui Calçada Bastos was exhibited in solo at the Museu de Arte, Arquitectura e Tecnologia (MAAT) in Lisbon and recently had a retrospective show at Colégio das Artes in Coimbra. His works are included in several public collections in Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Brazil, Spain and Portugal.
Portable space
“This piece by Rui Calçada Bastos develops along lines that connect introspection and amplitude. The artist creates a temporary place, signalled by the light of a lamp and a portable table. On that table, two mirrors reflect each other, suggesting an entrance to an infinite and abstract world. Exploring the idea of restraint, his work opens out to a fictitious space.”
– Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues, 2019
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O Mundo na Mão
Even though he is a constant wanderer, Rui Calçada Bastos does not have the “world in his hand”, as suggested by the sculptural intervention O Mundo na Mão, in which an eponymous book remains out of the viewer’s reach. This work, referring to unattainable knowledge and the complexity of human experience, conveys a sense of alienation as well as an exquisite melancholy.
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Urban Scars #2
This photograph, taken in 2005 when the artist lived in Berlin, is a perfect example of his interest for the forgotten details of urban landscape. He turned his camera to overpainted graffiti, showing us how this imperfect human intervention becomes an accidental composition in itself. Rui Calçada Bastos reveals the poetic and narrative potential of human error, while the architecture seems to become a vessel for minimal painting.
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Untitled
Recently, Rui Calçada Bastos has developed a new series of paintings and drawings, going back to the self-sufficient and primary gestures that characterize those forms of creation. This composition in charcoal and spray creates an evocative and ambivalent image. It shows a duality of both form and meaning: the mountain, cut at its base, dissolves into mysterious shadows that can seem at times dreamlike and at others nightmarish.
To enquire about “Untitled” from RUI CALÇADA BASTOS, please provide your contact information.
Untitled
Recently, Rui Calçada Bastos has developed a new series of paintings and drawings, going back to the self-sufficient and primary gestures that characterize those forms of creation. This composition in charcoal and spray creates an evocative and ambivalent image. It shows a duality of both form and meaning: the mountain, cut at its base, dissolves into mysterious shadows that can seem at times dreamlike and at others nightmarish.
To enquire about “Untitled” from RUI CALÇADA BASTOS, please provide your contact information.
– Ana Anacleto, 2019