Tiago Baptista
The weeping rock

3+1 Contemporary Art is pleased to present The weeping rock, a solo exhibition by Tiago Baptista (b.1986, Leiria).

Predominately known for his painting within his practice, his discursive narrative upon canvas are embellishments of apparitions from multi-referential recesses that are held in the vast library of Baptista’s intellect. Recently however he has been developing sculptural works which although operate as individual identities, recall the language of objects and forms often found in his painted compositions. The pictorial representations appearing on the canvas have evolved into three-dimensional objects, themselves appearing with painted interventions on the metal structures or in ceramic.

Similarly to the manner in which Baptista composes his works which are gleaned from his phenomenological responses, the title of the exhibition “The weeping rock” has arrived from various realms; one being the pleasure in hearing the sound of the words, the other, from a childhood perspective of visiting a geological form of limestone near where he grew up in Leiria, watching and listening to the droplets of water as they fell from these stalactite structures – forms previously explored in recent sculptural works. To the artist this image also appears as a commentary on planet earth’s current climate predicament, as though the earth here represented by a rock was weeping. In turn, this thought process led him to explore and research geological forms and fossils which appear in these new paintings.

As with this newly established path, so too have the subjects within his paintings. Previously complex and multi-layered imagery and narratives are now favoured by spatiality and each time fewer articles. The devices applied here now prefer the attention driven towards the gesture, subtly of hues and fields. A quietness emblazons the surface together with a singular painted fossil, a rock or a snail. These shapes themselves resonate pensive moments, reduced speed and reflection of the passage of time. Perhaps the artist is embodying a period of pause and peaceful moments, that remind us of times from youth, curiosities gathered from journeys as keepsakes which remind us of them.