João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva
28 May - 10 Jul 2010
© João Maria Gusmão + Pedro Paiva
Peppinino and the enchanted food, 2010
35mm film, color, no sound, 4'20''
Produced by Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania
Courtesy Sies+Höke Galerie, Düsseldorf
Peppinino and the enchanted food, 2010
35mm film, color, no sound, 4'20''
Produced by Fondazione Brodbeck, Catania
Courtesy Sies+Höke Galerie, Düsseldorf
JOÃO MARIA GUSMÃO + PEDRO PAIVA
"The foot removes the sock which takes off the shoe which leaves the footprint..."
May 28 – July 10, 2010
Opening: Friday, May 28, 7–9 p.m.
Sies + Höke is pleased to present the gallery’s inaugural exhibition of work by Portuguese artists Gusmão and Paiva (*1979 / 1977). Gusmão and Paiva have been collaborating since 2001 on short films, sculptures and installations and represented their home country at the 2009 Venice Biennial. This exhibition shows nine films, a spaceous “inverted” camera obscura installation and three bronze sculptures.
Gusmão and Paiva’s silent short films are visually minimal and simply produced; they feature amateur actors and low-tech special effects, and have a purposefully aged look to them that recalls the silent movies of the 1920s. Varying in content and approach from the educational and experimental to the magical and philosophical, they depict a strange and subtly fabulous universe.
The tragicomic and nonsensical elements in Gusmão and Paiva’s work have been related to numerous ancestors, most often to Nietzsche and the existentialist writers Beckett, Camus, Ionesco and Kafka, but also the iconic films of Bas Jan Ader and classic slapstick movie. Gusmão and Paiva’s work is also characterised by their apparent interest in paranormal phenomena, alchemy and occultism. In works such as their camera obscura, they analyse the mechanism of sight, studying systems of illusion and deception and indicating the complexity of the production of images.
Through these widespread references Gusmão and Paiva examine the position of the individual in the centre of an inexplicable world. Mistrusting the idea of a universal narrative or truth, they mockingly embrace the ideas of existentialism and reject a fully rational understanding of the world.
João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva live and work in Lisbon. Recent solo exhibitions were presented at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2010), Mercer Union Centre for Contemporary Visual Art, Toronto (2009), Kunstverein Hannover (2009), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2008) and Museu de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (2007). Group shows include Magic Show, touring exhibition organised by The Hayward Gallery, London (2010), Leopards in the Temple, Sculpture Center, New York (2010), La 53 Biennale di Venzia, Venice (2009), Manifesta 7 – European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Rovereto (2008), VI Bienal de Mercosul, Porto Alegre (2007) and XXVII Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2006).
"The foot removes the sock which takes off the shoe which leaves the footprint..."
May 28 – July 10, 2010
Opening: Friday, May 28, 7–9 p.m.
Sies + Höke is pleased to present the gallery’s inaugural exhibition of work by Portuguese artists Gusmão and Paiva (*1979 / 1977). Gusmão and Paiva have been collaborating since 2001 on short films, sculptures and installations and represented their home country at the 2009 Venice Biennial. This exhibition shows nine films, a spaceous “inverted” camera obscura installation and three bronze sculptures.
Gusmão and Paiva’s silent short films are visually minimal and simply produced; they feature amateur actors and low-tech special effects, and have a purposefully aged look to them that recalls the silent movies of the 1920s. Varying in content and approach from the educational and experimental to the magical and philosophical, they depict a strange and subtly fabulous universe.
The tragicomic and nonsensical elements in Gusmão and Paiva’s work have been related to numerous ancestors, most often to Nietzsche and the existentialist writers Beckett, Camus, Ionesco and Kafka, but also the iconic films of Bas Jan Ader and classic slapstick movie. Gusmão and Paiva’s work is also characterised by their apparent interest in paranormal phenomena, alchemy and occultism. In works such as their camera obscura, they analyse the mechanism of sight, studying systems of illusion and deception and indicating the complexity of the production of images.
Through these widespread references Gusmão and Paiva examine the position of the individual in the centre of an inexplicable world. Mistrusting the idea of a universal narrative or truth, they mockingly embrace the ideas of existentialism and reject a fully rational understanding of the world.
João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva live and work in Lisbon. Recent solo exhibitions were presented at Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2010), Mercer Union Centre for Contemporary Visual Art, Toronto (2009), Kunstverein Hannover (2009), CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, San Francisco (2008) and Museu de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León (2007). Group shows include Magic Show, touring exhibition organised by The Hayward Gallery, London (2010), Leopards in the Temple, Sculpture Center, New York (2010), La 53 Biennale di Venzia, Venice (2009), Manifesta 7 – European Biennial of Contemporary Art, Rovereto (2008), VI Bienal de Mercosul, Porto Alegre (2007) and XXVII Bienal de São Paulo, São Paulo (2006).