António Dacosta

The title of this work [Open Scene] points to a common place in surrealist painting: a theatrical situation staged with characters that are somewhat strange. However, in this piece, the apparent unity of theatrical place, reinforced by the strong triangular composition, the framing of aggressive boys and animals, the prompt box, the burned anthropomorphic tree, and the idol pierced by an arrow with a rock behind, is immediately duplicated and subverted by the theatre within the theatre where, after all, uneasy witnesses, battered children and strange idols are spreading uneasiness almost everywhere. Outside this situation, although inserted within the scenic space, in a cave or tunnel, someone looks at the maritime landscape that this whole scene conceals. We do not know what this character sees and we do not even know if something is seen or whether it’s only remembrances from other lost and happier places and times; perhaps an island, why not?

José Luís Porfírio
May 2013