Bruno Cidra belongs to the same generation of artists as André Romão, Mariana Silva and Ana Manso, whose works have recently joined the Collection, as well as Gonçalo Sena and Joana Escoval. His sculpture work is sensitive and distinguished by an expressive balance between suspension and localisation, between density, weight, (dis)appearance and elevation. Iron and paper coexist in the definition of an ambiguous materiality. Something intangible and volatile becomes inscribed in the space where his pieces are installed, despite their firmness and capacity for permanence.

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This work is characterised by a disconcerting simplicity: its minimal nature, its vocation as an installation in the space and its singularity make it easy to imagine it as part of a visual dialogue with pieces in the collection from different generations.

‘The work of Bruno Cidra (Lisbon, 1982) is based on a synthesis between sculpture and drawing. His sculptures in iron and paper explore the tension and dialogue between the opposing materialities and emotional values of each discipline, such as resistance and fragility, weight and lightness, permanence and ephemerality. Taking the exhibition space as a place of composition, Bruno Cidra’s sculpture draws new paths, rhythms and frames, defines new axes and visual references, areas of concentration or dispersion, inviting the viewer to constantly readjust their relationship to the space,’ Maria Joana Vilela, in the room text for the exhibition Passar pelas Mãos [Pass through the Hands], 2019. 

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The notions of equilibrium, linearity, (dis)torsion, geometry, gravity, openness, framing, line, volume, transparency, lightness and movement superimpose to directly question our relationship with the place and with the nature of the sculpture.

Leonor Nazaré
Curator