2018 EXPOSIÇÃO INDIVIDUAL | SOLO EXHIBITION
SOLID MATTER
21.07.2018 - 12.01.2019
Solid Matter
Solid Matter é uma exposição que Mónica Capucho apresenta na Sala
Multiusos e na Galeria Municipal Vieira da Silva, no Parque Adão Barata, em
Loures. Mónica Capucho intervém em dois espaços contíguos, de carácter oposto mas
complementar. Dois locais que se separam pela presença de um pátio exterior, mas
que se ligam pela natureza do trabalho exposto.
A primeira sala (Sala
Multiusos) afirma-se como um espaço ainda inacabado, onde a expressão dos
materiais e a sua lógica construtiva é fortemente vincada. Enquanto espaço
aberto, esta sala caracteriza-se pela sua extensão e marca-se pela presença do
tijolo e da estrutura metálica, que surge de forma assumida. A segunda sala (sala
de exposições da Galeria Municipal Vieira da Silva) aproxima-se ao ambiente anónimo
de um vulgar White Cube, mas detém uma
compartimentação menos evidente e algumas janelas sobre a dominante paisagem
suburbana.
A exposição trabalha entre
estes dois tipos de ambientes, contraditórios e marcantes do decurso da
história da arte. Entre o estaleiro e a galeria, entre o espaço único e a
compartimentação, entre a crueza do espaço frontal e a encenação do espaço branco.
I
Mónica Capucho aborda
a palavra escrita e gere uma ideia que se forma em torno de uma lógica construtiva
e, simultaneamente, constitutiva. Nas suas obras existem dois pontos que se
distinguem, complementam e ganham expressão – a presença da palavra e a marcação
de uma norma.
Na primeira sala, todo
o espaço é ocupado por uma instalação composta por duas fileiras de objectos
que se encadeiam para formar uma perspectiva. A perspectiva marca um ponto que
existe para lá das paredes e define um caminho que nos convida a rodear o
trabalho, levando-nos ao fundo da sala.
As palavras surgem
pintadas sobre materiais de construção civil e a norma é ditada pela composição
ordenada que estes elementos definem. Estes elementos dão corpo a uma base que,
ao mesmo tempo, se torna princípio ordenador e elemento discursivo. Como nas páginas
de um caderno pautado, as vigotas de betão ordenam duas linhas, com fiadas
paralelas, onde se pousam placas de betão, madeira, cerâmica e vidro. Sobre estas
placas, que detêm sempre o mesmo tamanho e são a planimetria de um tijolo,
existem palavras que reflectem ou contradizem a natureza do sistema criado.
As obras trabalham
com a força da gravidade, constroem-se por sobreposição, e dispõem-se no
pavimento. Nessa articulação, as palavras ligam-se, os materiais cruzam-se, as
frases emergem, os objectos ganham forma e os sentidos encadeiam-se. A palavra
que surge em cada elemento é lida como afirmação e o vazio que fica entre cada parte,
é lido como silêncio. Funcionando como pequenos Haikus, cada obra é feita do diálogo que se gera entre a matéria, a
palavra, o espaço e o silêncio. Aqui, todas as obras são iguais no princípio ou
na norma que os delineia, e diferentes naquilo que comunicam. Assim, a relação entre
duas ou mais placas e a sua proximidade aos limites da base, acompanham a
natureza do material e o sentido das palavras que sobre elas se inscrevem. Mónica
Capucho cria um sistema de ordenação que cruza a natureza do que está
fisicamente presente, ou do que se manifesta como matéria, com o carácter do
que imaterialmente se invoca, ou do que se manifesta como palavra. A
articulação entre estes elementos produz uma interlocução que funciona
isoladamente para cada obra, mas que também relaciona as diferentes obras, o
todo da instalação e o espaço envolvente.
Dir-se-ia que a
artista ensaia uma lógica gramatical para algo que é intuído, procurando, no
fundo, uma expansão do seu sentido. Cruzando algo físico, tangível e
mensurável, com algo imaterial, invocatório e especulativo. Ou, como a própria
refere, gerindo a obra com “um instinto racional”.
II
A sala de exposições recebe
um conjunto de obras que ocupam as paredes e acompanham a compartimentação do
espaço existente. Na sua maioria tratam-se de pinturas sobre tela que definem
vários grupos de acordo com uma dimensão tipo. No total existem três grupos,
com escalas e formatos diferentes, acrescidos de um outro, autónomo, no final
da sala.
Nesta sala dá-se
sentido a um diálogo entre a palavra e a geometria ou, predominantemente, entre
a pintura e o seu suporte. Esse diálogo, que assenta numa concordância entre a
ordem e a variação, ou entre o encaixe modular e a mudança de composição é,
aqui, contrariamente à sala anterior, de ordem pictórica. Assim, se no outro
espaço essa relação detém um vigor objectual, resultando num conjunto de
esculturas que dão corpo a uma instalação, aqui essa relação tem uma leitura tendencialmente
gráfica, que unifica a intervenção sem a moldar à existência de uma obra única.
Nestas obras, por uma
outra via, a palavra nomeia, a proporção enquadra, e o suporte dá corpo. Este
jogo de relações vive, aqui, de uma subtileza diferente, levando a que o
registo escrito se funda com a base. E, deste modo, quando a cor da palavra é a
cor do suporte, a mesma torna-se sussurrada, promovendo a curiosidade, a
proximidade e a cumplicidade do observador.
A composição da
imagem é explorada de múltiplas maneiras. Utilizando uma métrica, um
encadeamento linear, assumindo a supressão da pintura e a cor da tela crua da
base, ou a mudança de uma paleta pré-determinada que varia entre o preto, o
branco e um conjunto de cinzentos intermédios. Em todos os casos, assistimos à
criação de um alfabeto gráfico que, ora nos dá a ver a raiz da obra, ora no
encanta com a sua expressão.
Nesta sala,
destaca-se ainda um terceiro grupo que faz a ligação entre estas duas
abordagens complementares. Este grupo, que se aproxima do trabalho que a
artista desenvolve na Sala Multiusos, emprega, também, materiais de construção
e relaciona-se com as palavras numa lógica corpórea, que é agora transposta
para um registo bidimensional, de parede. Os materiais surgem apoiados num
elemento horizontal e marcam uma sequência lateral, definindo um sentido de
leitura que reforça e contradiz cada palavra acolhida e/ou cada frase construída.
Estes elementos assumem, também, as proporções e as cores dos módulos empregues
nas pinturas e conectam-se, dessa forma, com as restantes obras.
III
Dir-se-ia que, na
Sala Multiusos descobrimos as obras com base numa análise racional para, depois,
encontrar a sua dimensão poética. Por isso os textos são afirmados, os materiais
são directos, a composição é clara e cada elemento reconhece-se por aquilo que
na verdade é. Na sala de exposições, a ordem é inversa. Neste caso partimos seduzidos
pelo envolvimento da composição para, só depois, lentamente, perceber a sua
lógica de funcionamento. Por isso as palavras desaparecem na cor da base, a
matéria é caracterizada pela tinta e a composição tem uma ordem que não é
imediata.
Em ambos os casos,
Mónica Capucho procede à elaboração de um sistema, de uma norma ou gramática
visual, que é depois alterada (contradita e reforçada) pela inserção da palavra
escrita. Algo que, numa abordagem sensível e inteligente, gere a parcimónia e a
assertividade, encontrando sentido na singularidade que as obras emanam. Entre
a regra e a excepção, entre o conjunto e o individual, entre o raciocínio e a
sensibilidade.
Sérgio Fazenda
Rodrigues
Solid Matter
Solid Matter is an exhibition staged by Mónica Capucho in the Multipurpose Room [Sala Multiusos] and at the Vieira da Silva Municipal Gallery, in Parque Adão Barata, Loures. Mónica Capucho intervenes in two adjoining spaces, opposite but complementary in nature. Two sites separated by the presence of an outside courtyard albeit connected by the character of the work on show.
The first room (the Multipurpose Room) is set up as a yet unfinished space, where the expression of the materials and their constructive approach is strongly inscribed. As an open space, this room is characterized by its length and stands out due to the presence of brick and a metallic structure which emerges very plainly. The second room (the exhibition room at the Vieira da Silva Municipal Gallery) draws closer to the anonymous atmosphere of a common White Cube, while still displaying a less evident compartmentalization and some windows overlooking the suburban landscape.
The exhibition takes shape between these two kinds of atmospheres, both contradictory and pivotal in the path of art history. Between the studio and the gallery, between single space and compartmentalization, between the rawness of the frontal space and the staging of the white space.
I
Mónica Capucho addresses the written word and generates an idea which is formed around a constructive and, at the same time, constitutive logic. In her pieces there are two elements that stand out, complement each other and become notable – the presence of the word and the establishment of a norm. In the first room, the whole space is taken up by an installation made up of two rows of objects that link up to form a perspective. The perspective sets a point which exists beyond the walls and defines a path that invites us to circumvent the work, taking us to the end of the room.
The words emerge painted on construction materials and the norm is prescribed by the ordered composition defined by these elements. They embody a base which becomes, simultaneously, ordering principle and discourse element. As on the pages of a ruled notebook, the concrete beams compose two lines, with parallel rows, where concrete, wood, ceramic and glass slabs come to rest. On these slabs, which are all the same size and constitute the planimetry of a brick, there are words that reflect or contradict the nature of the system created.
The artworks team up with the force of gravity, are constructed by overlap,
and are laid out on the pavement. In this articulation, the words connect, the
materials intersect, the statements emerge, the objects are shaped, and the
senses link up. The word that emerges in each element is read as a statement
and the void which remains between each part is read as silence. Acting as
small Haikus, each work is produced by the exchange it generates between
matter, word, space and silence. Here, all the artworks are alike in the
principle or in the norm which shapes them, and different in what they
communicate. Thus, the relation between two or more slabs and their
proximity to the limits of the base match the nature of the material and the
meaning of the words inscribed on then. Mónica Capucho creates an ordering
system which intersects the nature of what is physically present, or what
manifests itself as matter, with the nature of what is immaterially evoked, or
what manifests itself as word. The articulation between these elements
produces a dialogue which functions in isolation for each artwork, but which
also connects the different pieces, the whole installation and the surrounding
space.
One might say that the artist is testing a grammatical logic for something which is intuitively perceived, deep down seeking an expansion of its meaning. By intersecting something physical, tangible and measurable with something immaterial, recollective and speculative. Or, as the artist herself puts it, by managing the work with “a rational instinct”.
II
The exhibition room houses a set of artworks which fill the walls and follow the compartmentalization of the existing space. For the most part, they are paintings on canvas defining various groups according to a standard size. Overall, there are three groups, featuring different scales and formats, plus another one, autonomous, at the end of the room.
In this room, meaning is given to a dialogue between the word and geometry or, predominantly, between the painting and its stand. This dialogue, which is based on an agreement between order and variation, or between the modular fitting and the change in composition, is here, contrarily to what happens in the previous room, pictorial in nature. Thus, whereas in the previous space this relation displays an object-based vigour, resulting in a range of sculptures which constitute an installation, here that relation has a reading that tends to be graphic, unifying the intervention without shaping it to the existence of a single artwork.
In these pieces, by another path, the word names, the proportion frames, and the stand embodies. This game of relations lives here off a different subtlety, leading the written register to blend with the base. And, in this way, when the colour of the word is the same colour of the stand, the former becomes
One might say that the artist is testing a grammatical logic for something which is intuitively perceived, deep down seeking an expansion of its meaning. By intersecting something physical, tangible and measurable with something immaterial, recollective and speculative. Or, as the artist herself puts it, by managing the work with “a rational instinct”.
II
The exhibition room houses a set of artworks which fill the walls and follow the compartmentalization of the existing space. For the most part, they are paintings on canvas defining various groups according to a standard size. Overall, there are three groups, featuring different scales and formats, plus another one, autonomous, at the end of the room.
In this room, meaning is given to a dialogue between the word and geometry or, predominantly, between the painting and its stand. This dialogue, which is based on an agreement between order and variation, or between the modular fitting and the change in composition, is here, contrarily to what happens in the previous room, pictorial in nature. Thus, whereas in the previous space this relation displays an object-based vigour, resulting in a range of sculptures which constitute an installation, here that relation has a reading that tends to be graphic, unifying the intervention without shaping it to the existence of a single artwork.
In these pieces, by another path, the word names, the proportion frames, and the stand embodies. This game of relations lives here off a different subtlety, leading the written register to blend with the base. And, in this way, when the colour of the word is the same colour of the stand, the former becomes
whispered, fostering the observer’s curiosity, proximity and complicity.
The composition of the image is explored in many ways: Using a metrics, a linear linkage, assuming the suppression of painting and the colour of the raw canvas of the base, or the shift from a pre-determined palette varying between black, white and a set of greys in-between. In every instance, we witness the creation of a graphic alphabet which one moment allows us to see the root of the work and the next charms us with its expression.
In this room, yet a third group stands out, establishing the connexion between these two complementary approaches. This group, which is closer to the work the artist creates in the Multipurpose Room, also uses construction materials and interacts with the words in a tangible rationale which is now translated into a two-dimensional register, that of the wall. The materials are laid out on a horizontal element and establish a lateral sequence, defining a sense of reading which reinforces and contradicts each word welcomed and/or each statement built. Also, these elements assume the proportions and colours of the modules used in the paintings, and in this way connect with the remaining pieces.
III
We might say that in the Multipurpose Room we discover the artworks on the basis of a rational analysis only to find their poetic dimension later. For this reason, the texts are stated, the materials are straightforward, the composition is clear, and each element is recognized for what it truly is. Now, in the exhibition room the order is reversed. In this case, we start out enchanted by the involvement of the composition only to figure out later, slowly, its rationale. For this reason, the words fade away in the colour of the base, the matter is characterised by the ink, and the composition has an order which is not immediate.
In both instances, Mónica Capucho undertakes the construction of a system, of a norm or visual grammar, which is then altered (contradicted and reinforced) by the insertion of the written word. Something which, taking a sensitive and intelligent approach, manages frugality and assertiveness, finding meaning in the uniqueness emanating from the artworks. Between rule and exception, between the whole and the individual, between reason and sensitivity.
Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues
The composition of the image is explored in many ways: Using a metrics, a linear linkage, assuming the suppression of painting and the colour of the raw canvas of the base, or the shift from a pre-determined palette varying between black, white and a set of greys in-between. In every instance, we witness the creation of a graphic alphabet which one moment allows us to see the root of the work and the next charms us with its expression.
In this room, yet a third group stands out, establishing the connexion between these two complementary approaches. This group, which is closer to the work the artist creates in the Multipurpose Room, also uses construction materials and interacts with the words in a tangible rationale which is now translated into a two-dimensional register, that of the wall. The materials are laid out on a horizontal element and establish a lateral sequence, defining a sense of reading which reinforces and contradicts each word welcomed and/or each statement built. Also, these elements assume the proportions and colours of the modules used in the paintings, and in this way connect with the remaining pieces.
III
We might say that in the Multipurpose Room we discover the artworks on the basis of a rational analysis only to find their poetic dimension later. For this reason, the texts are stated, the materials are straightforward, the composition is clear, and each element is recognized for what it truly is. Now, in the exhibition room the order is reversed. In this case, we start out enchanted by the involvement of the composition only to figure out later, slowly, its rationale. For this reason, the words fade away in the colour of the base, the matter is characterised by the ink, and the composition has an order which is not immediate.
In both instances, Mónica Capucho undertakes the construction of a system, of a norm or visual grammar, which is then altered (contradicted and reinforced) by the insertion of the written word. Something which, taking a sensitive and intelligent approach, manages frugality and assertiveness, finding meaning in the uniqueness emanating from the artworks. Between rule and exception, between the whole and the individual, between reason and sensitivity.
Sérgio Fazenda Rodrigues
