Julião Sarment
04 Sep - 17 Oct 2008
JULIÃO SARMENTO
"Notes Towards a Definition Of Pleasure"
Opening: Thursday 4th of September 2008, 20:30 h.
Opening hours: Monday -Friday from 9:30 to 18:00 h. Saturdays by appointment.
Galería Pepe Cobo is pleased to present the recent work of Julião Sarmento (Lisboa, 1948). In this exhition we will be able to see his latest work part of the series, Notes towards a definition of pleasure, from the 4th of September 2008.
“I live for pleasure” said the Portuguese artist Julião Sarmento (Lisboa, 1948).
A search and a sensation , sensation of pleasure, that prevail in all that show- and hide-, the 10 drawings and 7 canvas composing the exhibition.
The pleasure of subverting the use, both in drawings and canvas, when creating the works in a horizontal plane by laying the medium on the floor which permits developing technics such as dripping or direct performace like footprints. Once hung on the wall, the memory of its prior horizontality allows the spectator to guess the early genesis in a lower plane. Technics that hold the pleasure of escaping from a figuration to go into territories bordering the abstraction, showing without letting see, announcing moments that do not come, delaying the spectator’s gratification, the consommation of pleasure.
Julião Sarmento thinks that we do not have to fear words. Thus, he uses literary quotes that decontextulized ,and “exacerbated”, in words of the artist; introduce us into the joy of reading. A vice- desire- expressed by quotes of renowned authors that give title to the artworks in order to complete images, for the first time in his career, abandoning figuration but still remaining realistic. Those quotes are conscientiously selected; he is an artist that nothing leaves at random, who as taxidermist, dissects texts and images.
His liking for playing, to extract sentences of a context, to insert them in an other, generating a new reality, leaving in final instance, in hands of spectator the endeavour of searching his own “definition of pleasure”.
The importance of Julião Sarmento in the contemporary art on the last quarter of XX th Century is unquestionable. Among the latest exhibitions of the eclectic artist, we could underline: Literal in Centro José Guerrero (Granada) or Something is missing held in Museu Serralves (Porto). His work can be found in Ellipse Foundation (Alcoitão); The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid); or The Museum of Modern Art (New York).
"Notes Towards a Definition Of Pleasure"
Opening: Thursday 4th of September 2008, 20:30 h.
Opening hours: Monday -Friday from 9:30 to 18:00 h. Saturdays by appointment.
Galería Pepe Cobo is pleased to present the recent work of Julião Sarmento (Lisboa, 1948). In this exhition we will be able to see his latest work part of the series, Notes towards a definition of pleasure, from the 4th of September 2008.
“I live for pleasure” said the Portuguese artist Julião Sarmento (Lisboa, 1948).
A search and a sensation , sensation of pleasure, that prevail in all that show- and hide-, the 10 drawings and 7 canvas composing the exhibition.
The pleasure of subverting the use, both in drawings and canvas, when creating the works in a horizontal plane by laying the medium on the floor which permits developing technics such as dripping or direct performace like footprints. Once hung on the wall, the memory of its prior horizontality allows the spectator to guess the early genesis in a lower plane. Technics that hold the pleasure of escaping from a figuration to go into territories bordering the abstraction, showing without letting see, announcing moments that do not come, delaying the spectator’s gratification, the consommation of pleasure.
Julião Sarmento thinks that we do not have to fear words. Thus, he uses literary quotes that decontextulized ,and “exacerbated”, in words of the artist; introduce us into the joy of reading. A vice- desire- expressed by quotes of renowned authors that give title to the artworks in order to complete images, for the first time in his career, abandoning figuration but still remaining realistic. Those quotes are conscientiously selected; he is an artist that nothing leaves at random, who as taxidermist, dissects texts and images.
His liking for playing, to extract sentences of a context, to insert them in an other, generating a new reality, leaving in final instance, in hands of spectator the endeavour of searching his own “definition of pleasure”.
The importance of Julião Sarmento in the contemporary art on the last quarter of XX th Century is unquestionable. Among the latest exhibitions of the eclectic artist, we could underline: Literal in Centro José Guerrero (Granada) or Something is missing held in Museu Serralves (Porto). His work can be found in Ellipse Foundation (Alcoitão); The Museum of Contemporary Art (Los Angeles); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía (Madrid); or The Museum of Modern Art (New York).