Álvaro Lapa

The writers with whom Lapa considered himself to have an elective affinity share the trait of rebellion against the predominant modes of social and cultural representation. Another common denominator is the appeal of travel. In Embarcação [Embarkation], shown at the exhibition Obras sobre Papel [Works on Paper] at CAM in 1989, travel – and in particular, maritime adventure – is evoked. A black form, evocative of a ship’s stern, stands out against the white ground. As José Gil has underlined in his text A voz dos signos [The Voice of Signs], published in the catalogue of this exhibition, Lapa’s blacks have depth. However, the black he uses is not uniform: it has various tonalities that emerge as an intentionally marked and dense contrast around the centre of the work. A similar area of paint can be seen in the painting Conta-gotas [Dropper], of 1988, where he has inscribed the word abyss. This swathe of paint causes the forms around it to disappear: the embarkation quay transformed into a vortex, the port of entry to an inner world. Embarkation is also linked to other maritime adventures, other adventures of discovery like those of Melville or Céline: journeys in space experienced as projections of inner travel, the artist’s mythical journey.

AS