• 2002
  • Photographic paper
  • Photography and Acrylic paint
  • Inv. 02FP365

Helena Almeida

Seduzir [To Seduce]

If one was to analyze Almeida’s work in diachronic terms one would say that it begins with the trace, moves on to shapes and shadows, and then finally to treating the whole space. Photography, the paintings support, began by being principally figural to become progressively spatial.* The background or scene is given ever more emphasis, not to dissolve the figure but rather to enunciate its limits. This background is always the artist’s studio: in the mid 90’s, the stone floor and white walls become permanent elements in her work.

 

In this series, the black high-heeled shoes are more than an accessory. Just as the elegant coquetry of the gesture of lifting one’s skirt, they stand as a symbol alluding to feminine seduction – an intention clarified by the title. To this is added and the addition of a red painted spot on the left foot’s sole, a touch of dramatization and theatricality that reinforces and at the same time disturbs this choreography of minimal gestures, as though affirming that “Seduction” implies pain and sacrifice.

 

 

* “Figural” is here used in the sense of François Lyotard’s Discours, Figure, from 1974 (Discourse, Figure, translated by Antony Hudek and Mary Lydon, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011).

IC

May 2010

 

 

TypeValueUnitSection
Height199cm
Width129,5cm
Typesignature
Typedate
TypeAcquisition
Densidade Relativa
Lisboa, CAM/FCG, 2005
ISBN:972-635-169-x
Monografia
Helena Almeida. Pés no chão, Cabeça no Céu
Lisboa, Edição Centro de Exposições / Centro Cultural de Belém, 2003
ISBN:972-8176-89-9
Catálogo de exposição
Densidade Relativa
Leonor Nazaré
Curator: Leonor Nazaré
27 de Outubro de 2005 a 22 de Janeiro de 2006
HALL de entrada e Piso 1 no CAMJAP
12-8-2006 a 26-11-2006
Centro Cultural Emmerico Nunes e Centro das Artes de Sines
A ideia de trabalhar o conceito de densidade das obras começou por surgir com a constatação de que a palavra é muito frequente nos textos de crítica de arte. O mesmo acontece com a palavra intensidade que facilmente se associa à primeira. Rapidamente se percebe que densidade pode ser sinónimo de riqueza ou de impenetrabilidade, quando não se refere mais literalmente à acumulação de elementos no espaço, por oposição ao vazio ou à rarefacção. O pensamento em torno destas variantes conduziu à percepção de que o conceito poderia ser útil no estabelecimento de um contínuo entre a matéria do pensamento e a dos corpos e objectos, neste caso, a das obras de arte.
Pés no Chão, Cabeça no Céu
Centro Cultural de Belém
Curator: Centro Cultural de Belém
19 de Março de 2004 a 6 de Maio de 2004
Galeria 1 do Centro Cultural de Belém
Exposição sobre a obra de Helena Helmeida.
Updated on 23 january 2015

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