Carlos Noronha Feio
Milk and Honey

3+1 Arte Contemporânea is pleased to present Milk and Honey, the latest solo exhibition by Carlos Noronha Feio (1981) at the gallery.

Carlos Noronha Feio’s multidisciplinary work reflects on themes such as identity, nationalism, and local and global culture. Using varied historical, geographical and cultural references, the artist comments on global social and political issues. In Milk and Honey, Noronha Feio explores the dichotomy between the manual and the technological in distinct but complementary series – on a conceptual level, as well as in the materials used – that share similar visual motifs.

Returning to his series of Arraiolos rugs, inspired by Afghan war rugs, the artist reflects on arts and crafts. The patterns created for these rugs centre, this time, on a new symbol: the opium poppy – of which Afghanistan was the world’s largest producer until last year. The integration of this flower in pieces produced by artisans seeks to establish cultural and commercial links between the Middle East, Europe and the USA, places where the poppy is both common and symbolic – particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world.

At the same time, Noronha Feio will present new series of works in which he also uses apparently natural motifs. Short, animated videos depicting the growth or movement of flowers and trees hide images of nuclear explosions, contrasting the natural world with that created by human beings. Sculptural works bridge the gap between these videos and the Arraiolos rugs, where the imagery of nuclear explosions and opium poppies gets combined and tangled.