Start. Do. Repeat

Human beings assimilate their somatic and psychic sides very early in their development. The body interacts with the environment; matter is born in their hands. The psyche becomes aware of the object, understands its function.

Touch, highlighted as the most skillful of the five senses, sets out to discover space, measuring fullness and emptiness, filling nature with mysterious forces. The hand, instinctively, acts. It learns where weight resides, feels texture, interacts with light, and confronts the unknown.

The ego awakens. The world happens.

Until the automatization of the gesture, progressing towards the safety of an almost irrational system, makes this being a hostage to growing in the world. Acting as its educator, this is the sense that repeats and distinguishes the human in space and time.

From the artist Diogo, the collection of pieces presented in the exhibition space is an ode to gesture, such as ‘Elogio’ (Focillon, 1934), which is divided into ‘Beginning’, ‘Untitled’ and ‘Repeating Space’. Corresponding to a period of production between 2020 and 2022, these works reflect a transitional energy of the artist and his work.

The viewer is guided by the elements that best characterize Diogo Gonçalves' artistic practice. The Camera Obscura, unfolding a memorable landscape, is transformed into a field of investigation into the concepts of body and space, making the performativity of the hand, as well as the observer, the motto of his practice.

The consistent use of polarity in his works, an element that simultaneously encrypts and decodes concepts of corporeality and gesture, while on the one hand registering a negative space torn by sabers, invaded by lines and divided into energetic planes, on the other hand brings the annulment of the void and the opening of a clearing traversed by the artist's hand.

His most recent works, transposing elements from the physical world to the digital world and repeating them, enter the field of artificiality to study the automation and transhumanization of the body and senses. Functioning as catalytic modules, they eternalize the gesture, making it a valuable material in his compositions.

Diogo Gonçalves (1990)
Lives and works in Lisbon. Holds a degree in Visual Arts and Multimedia - Sculpture specialization from the University of Évora (2010/2014). Master's degree in Sculpture Studies from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (2014/2018).

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Untitled - Kunst Off Space Narrenkastle (2021) Graz, AT; Line Up In Space - Camões Library (2020) Lisbon, PT; Volatile Segment - Lisbon Roman Theatre Museum (2019) Lisbon, PT.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

Mechanics of Reality - Artemis Gallery (2022) Lisbon, PT; Electric Dreams - Artemis Gallery (2021) Lisbon, PT; Curating Obstacles - Serra da Arrábida (2021) Setúbal, PT; Lines of Thought - CICA Museum (2020) South Korea, SI; XI International Biennial of Young Art - Prof. Machado Vilela Municipal Library (2020) Vila Verde, PT; How Many A4s Fit in A-Four - Tarimba Collective (2020) Lisbon, PT; Apparent Three-Dimensionality - António Prates Gallery (2020) Lisbon, PT; Saturnalia - Lisbon Roman Theatre Museum (2019) Lisbon, PT; 12x12 - Arte Graça Gallery (2019) Lisbon, PT; Saturnalia - Lisbon Roman Theatre Museum (2019) Lisbon, PT; DU - Unknown Destination (2019) Weert, NL; AIR4 - Ravnikar Gallery Space (2019) Ljubljana, SL; 12x12 - Arte Graça Gallery (2018) Lisbon, PT; Periplos/Arte Portugués De Hoy - CAC Málaga (2016) Málaga, ES; FDUL Experience - Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (2015) Lisbon, PT; Pedreira dos Sons (2014) Viana do Alentejo, PT; Levantamento das pestes (2014) Évora, PT; Amieira Marina Art Fest - Alqueva (2013) Évora, PT; Uma simples Medida e um Gesto Arriscado - University of Évora (2013) Évora, PT; Tempo e o Modo - Museum of Évora (2013) Évora, PT.

PUBLICATIONS

Electric Dreams - Artemis Art Gallery, PT; DU 2020 - Stichting Destination Unknown, NL; XI Bienal Internacional de Arte Jovem Vila Verde Município Vila Verde, PT; Tridimensionalidade Aparente - Galeria António Prates, PT; Volatile Segment - Lisbon Museum Roman Theatre - EGEAC, PT; Rearrangement of Material - DU - Unknown Destination, NL; Portugal: Open Window to the World - Imago Mundi, Contemporary Artists from Portugal - Luciano Benetton Collection, ES.

COLLECTIONS

CICA Museum, KR; Antônio Prates Foundation, PT; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Pt; Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche, IT; CAC Modern Art Center, ES; Private collections, PT, SI, AT, DE.

RESIDENCY

Du (2019) Weert, NL.