José de Guimarães at the CIAJG
Between 16 April and 5 September, the José de Guimarães International Centre for the Arts (CIAJG), in Guimarães, is hosting a cycle of eight exhibitions and dialogues with the institution’s collections, which launch the artistic programme ‘Nas margens da ficção’ [On the edges of fiction] which will run between 2021 and 2023.
Curated by Marta Mestre, the new chief curator of the CIAJG, this cycle is based on José de Guimarães’ permanent collection, bringing together not just pieces made by the artist himself, but also artworks of ancient African origin, as well as pre-Colombian and Chinese art.
Mitos… Non… Avesso… [Myths… Non… Inside Out] is one of the exhibitions in this cycle. Starting from the work Rei D. Sebastião [King Sebastian], by José de Guimarães, which belongs to the Modern Art Centre, the exhibition invites visitors to reflect on the creation of the myth. Composed of various fragments and painted on both sides, the work pushes the boundaries of painting, lying somewhere between pictorial practice and sculpture.
Installed in the centre of the exhibition, the sculpture is accompanied by a mural intervention by Horácio Frutuoso, documents and notes from the film Non ou Vã Glória de Mandar [No, or the Vain Glory of Command] by Manoel Oliveira, a photograph of the sculpture of Queen Nzinga, taken by Kiluanji Kia Henda, and the video installation The Stuffed Shirt, by Anna Franceschini, which also explore the theme of the myth.
