Robyn Brentano & Andrew Horn, Carlos Bunga, Spencer Finch, General Idea, Kapwani Kiwanga, Eric N. Mack, Joseph del Pesco and Johnny Pootoogook
18 May 2022
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Spencer Finch, Sky Over Coney Island (November 26, 2004, 12:47 pm. Southwest View Over the Cyclone), 2004
Helium balloons and string
Overall dimensions variable; each balloon, diameter 27.94 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Carlos Bunga, Homeless #4, 2021, Acrylic on chromogenic color print, 30 x 40 cm © Courtesy of the artist and Vera Cortês Gallery, Lisbon
Joseph Del Pesco,
All for the Want of a Whisper, 2017
Inkjet prints on 120gsm paper
(7x) 30.48 x 45.2 cm each. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Eric N. Mack, Bodice, 2022
Pleated polyester, paper, string and pins
Dimensions variable. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
General Idea, GENERI©, 1992
Custom-shaped printed red-yellow-black mylar balloon, title sheet (photocopy on card), in plastic sleeve
Sleeve: 29.5 x 23 cm; balloon inflated: 25 x 65 x 25 cm
Edition of 250, signed and numbered
Published by Centre d'Art Santa Monica. Barcelona. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Kapwani Kiwanga, Flowers for Africa: Angola, 2020
Flower arrangement and ceramic vase
(Protocol of assembly, and display including archival iconography to guide the reconstruction of a sculptural arrangement consisting of foliage and flowers)
Dimensions variable. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Johnny Pootoogook, Shaman, 2019
Graphite, coloured pencil, ink on paper, 76 x 58.5 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes.
Johnny Pootoogook, Shaman, 2018
Graphite, coloured pencil, ink on paper, 63.8 x 91.4 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Spencer Finch, Sky Over Coney Island (November 26, 2004, 12:47 pm. Southwest View Over the Cyclone), 2004
Helium balloons and string
Overall dimensions variable; each balloon, diameter 27.94 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Carlos Bunga, Homeless #4, 2021, Acrylic on chromogenic color print, 30 x 40 cm © Courtesy of the artist and Vera Cortês Gallery, Lisbon
Joseph Del Pesco,
All for the Want of a Whisper, 2017
Inkjet prints on 120gsm paper
(7x) 30.48 x 45.2 cm each. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Eric N. Mack, Bodice, 2022
Pleated polyester, paper, string and pins
Dimensions variable. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
General Idea, GENERI©, 1992
Custom-shaped printed red-yellow-black mylar balloon, title sheet (photocopy on card), in plastic sleeve
Sleeve: 29.5 x 23 cm; balloon inflated: 25 x 65 x 25 cm
Edition of 250, signed and numbered
Published by Centre d'Art Santa Monica. Barcelona. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Kapwani Kiwanga, Flowers for Africa: Angola, 2020
Flower arrangement and ceramic vase
(Protocol of assembly, and display including archival iconography to guide the reconstruction of a sculptural arrangement consisting of foliage and flowers)
Dimensions variable. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Johnny Pootoogook, Shaman, 2019
Graphite, coloured pencil, ink on paper, 76 x 58.5 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes.
Johnny Pootoogook, Shaman, 2018
Graphite, coloured pencil, ink on paper, 63.8 x 91.4 cm. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Exhibition view. Photo: Bruno Lopes
Curated by Rui Mateus Amaral
3 + 1 Contemporary Art invites you to the opening of 18 May 2022, an exhibition of artworks by Robyn Brentano & Andrew Horn, Carlos Bunga, Spencer Finch, General Idea, Kapwani Kiwanga, Eric N. Mack, Joseph del Pesco and Johnny Pootoogook, arranged by Rui Mateus Amaral. For many of the artists, as well as for the curator, 18 May 2022 marks the first presentation of their work in Portugal. Also, the exhibition opens during the week of ARCOlisboa, the art fair’s first physical iteration since 2019.
The exhibition is intended to be as open-ended as the sky, a shared space of ominous and transcendent beauty that is ever-shifting, which compels new and varying reflections below. Similarly, several artworks in the exhibition will slowly transform before the viewer, as well as through active engagement. Other artworks are being adapted locally or have been materialised from moments of profound physical, political, social and art historical turns.
Drawing on the visuals of celebration—balloons, flowers, marquees, dresses, music, dancing and gifts—the exhibition looks to the ritual of preparing for an event and to the elation and anticipation that builds in the process, but that inevitably deflates when plans are altered and merriment winds down, returning to a state of longing. Before being titled 18 May 2022, the exhibition was titled 7 May 2021, and before that, 12 May 2020, due to the fluctuating conditions of our time. The spirit of moving through unpredictable terrain, of improvisation, has not only guided the process of putting together this exhibition but also is embedded in the artworks themselves. For now, on the 18th of May of 2022, the forecast shows signs of clearing.
(Carlos Bunga, courtesy Vera Cortês, Lisbon; Spencer Finch, courtesy Lisson Gallery, London; Kapwani Kiwanga, courtesy Galerie Poggi, Paris; Eric N. Mack, courtesy Morán Morán, Los Angeles; Johnny Pootoogook, courtesy Daniel Faria Gallery, Toronto.)