Yesterday I visited the exhibition “Between Worlds” by British painter Rebecca Fontaine Wolf in the Espacoexhibitionista Gallery in Lisbon.

I already loved the diversity of formats, surfaces and shapes that the artist used- smaller works behind perplex glass, ovals, large format linen canvases or very small canvases.

It was also a combination of figurative works and some abstract. I feel how I immediately relate to these works with the female figure. The title “Between worlds” relates to the artist being between different stages of her life, and also to being a woman and experiencing different cycles of life.

Several of the paintings contained self portraits of the artist, like here “Blood Moon”, combined with an abstract painting, which also had some triangles symbolizing womanhood.

The second self portrait  ” Milk Moon” was hanging on the opposite wall.

Together these two portraits captured two different sides of the artist, two different phases or moods.

Another portrait that spoke to me strongly had a smear over the eyes that pulled in my attention. A quick effect, but I felt how it really worked here, in combination with the squares and lines behind the head.

I am quite fascinated by this combination recurring in all the paintings, of figure and some abstract colour fields and lines. I especially like how the artist knows exactly when to stop- and leave parts of the linen canvas untouched.

The oval painting of a serpent seems a little more illustrative and different from the rest, but the title ” Moon Serpent” ties it to the other “Moon Paintings”.

The largest and more monochrome painting contained several female figures, intertwined into impossible postures.

There is a lot of confusion and pain in this painting, some anxiety in the hands grabbing or even digging into the flesh. I can relate to the feelings that this painting expresses for me.

I also really liked this little series of close ups of the expressions in the faces painted on wood and then covered by a dark sheet of perplex- a technical idea to remember!

The artist used wood and perplex for some other smaller paintings too, in interesting different shapes, like the oval eye beside her name on the top image by the entrance, or like here in a hexagonal.

I am definitely fascinated by the way Rebecca Fontaine Wolf applies paint. First thing to remember is to leave parts uncovered. Then she combines acrylics with oil paints and boldly leaves parts in charcoal drawings:

I am intrigued by the way the paint pearls- is she applying acrylics on top of oil paints or what is happening here? Something to explore…

This was a wonderful art visit for me- I felt inspired by the subject and by the many technical new ideas I carried away. I heard that the artist is staying in Portugal for art residencies and hope to catch more of her work soon.

Last week, I visited the opening of Teresa Murta’s individual exhibition “Absurdo” at the NAVE Gallery, Lisbon.

Teresa Murta paints in acrylics on canvas and the motives are absurd, almost abstract but with some elements that are seemingly recognizable.

The shapes seem organic, or some sorts of containers, and sometimes look like some species of creatures.

The painting below looks like some sort of box, but becomes absurd melting as well upon closer inspection and it remains unclear what it really is:

I found myself trying to make out shapes and put some sense to them, rather than just enjoying the forms.

Some elements, like the egg, keeps recurring like a surrealist symbol in several of the paintings.

There is a feeling of being in a world after some catastrophe in several of the paintings, like surreal abandoned machines scattered.

I have difficulty relating to these absurd machine or organic worlds, except maybe with a certain unease.

The paintings below, especially the one on the right were probably my favorites because they felt more like imaginary creatures with a certain expression on them, that could spark my imagination.

According to the exhibition catalogue, the paintings “go beyond reality and caress our sensitivity”. “Facing Teresa Murta’s work is a plunge into a world where the reality of simple and pure things is contaminated by the though that lives in our eyes.” (exhibition catalogue)

I had a conversation with the artist, asking her if the recurring elements, like the egg or sponge, have a specific meaning. She replied that the works are all totally process based. She never has an idea or sketch before she starts, she just starts with abstract shapes and colours, and then sees if her brain can recognize some of the forms, that she then develops into something more readable.

I am not very attracted to this type of absurd art, but had a wonderful evening and learned a lot just from talking to a passionate artist who works in a very different way.

Esquina Atelier is a small artist driven artist residency and gallery space in Lisbon. February 6-8 they created an event called ” Come exhibit with me” where all four residents decided on artist friends to create a group exhibition. I was lucky enough to be invited to show some paintings here in this small, cozy and fun event.

Felipe Fernandes is a graffiti artist whose name “Pura poesia” is to be seen all over Lisbon. Because of this, he is the most well known artist of the group. In this exhibition, he showed “visual poetry” which is always consisting of lines or words on dark backgrounds.

“Pain” and “poesia” are the most recurring words. I enjoyed the versatility of the supports Filipe used and the different ways he exposed the pieces- some on paper, some on textiles, some large and some very small strung together in series.

Most of all, I liked one corner where he displayed a row of artists books:

The books are made out of drawings in different sizes and papers and although the motive of the lines and words on dark were quite similar, the juxtaposition of the different papers and textures and slight variation in lines made the subtle differences clear.

The lines themselves become a coded language and the few words we can read, like “rehab notes” or “pain” sets the context. I found this an exciting inspiration for the format of the artists book I will make later in the course. It was interesting to note how important the tactile experience became with the different qualities of paper.

Marta Simoes showed some colourful landscapes in oil:

More interesting were her drawings of clouds in liquid graphite:

I believe these rather quick works could have benefited from a more careful presentation maybe.

Fransisco Marques is a more classical painter. I really loved his very dark portrait “The Old man” (with horns) painted in many layers of oil over a long period of time:

This photo really does not do the painting justice. It is alive from the incredibly richness of different tones of black.

His graphite drawing also has an incredible amount of small detail and different layers of narrative:

I was surprised by the very different feel of Francisco’s other oil painting of a sort of clay figure with a crudely drawn face:

I really liked the body of work of Constanca Sardinha, which is very different from any of my own drawings. She sits on various buses through the city of Lisbon with a pen poised over a piece of paper and lets the movements of the bus create a random drawing. I was quite captivated by the method and the delicate drawings that resulted from it. Back in the studio, Constanca interprets what she sees and feels when looking at the drawing and collages fitting words that she cuts out from old magazines or school books.

It was interesting to discover how different I felt about the drawings before and after knowing about her method. The fact of the marks being random increased their attractiveness with a strange fascination. They also had a very different impact depending on the size and the presentation alone or in small groups.

The next artist wanted to remain anonymous and presented only as “the friend of Francisco”. Apparently he always exposes his work without revealing his name to avoid being caught up in becoming popular. Possibly he is also a graffiti artist. I am not even sure he was present at the opening.

I enjoyed his rather delicate ink drawings, mainly of patterns that looked like shavings of wood in different shapes. I also really liked the way they were framed behind glass without any background.

I also really liked this portrait in subtle tones that looked like done with rubbing of charcoal, a way of drawing that I am exploring right now for part 2 of the course.

I showed some mono prints in oil that looked very different on the patterned tiles of the room:

I also showed an oilpainting of my pregnant daughter on cardboard presented on an easel:

Here I am posing with my granddaughter in front of a painting in acrylics on paper:

And at last a small painting in oil on aluminium:

It was a very fun evening and we all received so much encouraging, positive feedback. It felt really good to co-create a small event like this with other artists. This is all very, very new for me. It was only three months ago that I dared upload some of my paintings on Instagram and to actually show something live felt like a leap. This first experience was so positive though, it is definitely worth to dare and to invest some time and energy in communicating and connecting.

I recently visited the beautiful exhibition of Portuguese painter Gabriel Garcia in the Espaco Exhibitionista gallery in Lisbon.

The title of the exhibition is “Who throws the First Rock”, which was presented in golden letters on a wooden table, with stones around- a beautiful moment in itself. I liked how this added a three-dimensional piece to the exhibition who was otherwise only paintings on the walls.

Two walls presented really large paintings of men hiding their faces in hoodies or ties in a rather desperate move, hiding or maybe punishing themselves in some ways.

The stones were present on the ground of the paintings.

I was even more affected by another series of mid size paintings showing a disrupted narrative, hands washing themselves in a sink for example. A very simple gesture, but given the title of the exhibition and the dark tone of the paintings, they seem to be washing off a sin.

The whole back wall was occupied by a double row of very small oil paintings.

They seemed to be painted from very different snapshots, of domestic scenes, of terrorist attacks, of someone longingly looking through a window. At first glance they were rather usual scenes from images I would feel frequently confronted with. Looking longer, I was taken by a very dark feeling though. All the paintings have a heavy, desperate, given up or aggressive tone.

I liked that the stories here remain so unclear, that we as viewers have to add our own imagination to complete the narrative. There is a certain despair in the paintings that I felt uncomfortable feeling, at the same time as I admire how Garcia manages to make me feel so strongly.

As an artist I was pleased to see the red dots of “sold” on almost all the paintings, which felt encouraging.