Pedro Cabrita Reis
20 Sep 2014 - 04 Jan 2015
© Pedro Cabrita Reis
Les dormeurs, 2009
Fluorescent lights and electric cables
Courtesy the artist. Photo: Blaise Adilon
Les dormeurs, 2009
Fluorescent lights and electric cables
Courtesy the artist. Photo: Blaise Adilon
PEDRO CABRITA REIS
20 September 2014 - 4 January 2015
Curator: Gaetane Verna
The Power Plant is pleased to present the first Canadian solo exhibition of work
by Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis.
The Power Plant is pleased to present the first Canadian solo exhibition of work
by Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis. The exhibition continues the artist’s
investigation into the perceived boundaries of architecture, sculpture and
painting. Presenting an all-encompassing intervention at The Power Plant,
Cabrita Reis creates and produces this new project with the space of the gallery
in mind.
Throughout his practice, Cabrita Reis at once examines and challenges the ways
in which sculpture and painting might alter, define or question the limits of space.
In order to do so, his work is often site-specific and created in situ thus
embodying the process of art making. Various materials are used throughout the
artist’s work. He combines everyday objects such as chairs, tables or doors with
industrial materials such as neon lights, steel girders and bricks. In so doing,
Cabrita Reis turns the familiar into new and abstract compositions. For instance,
his project A remote whisper (2013), produced on the occasion of the 55th
International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, took over the interior of a
domestic space, flowing throughout the rooms and overtaking its walls, doorways
and floors. The immersive environment was created using aluminum bars,
fluorescent lighting and free-hanging black electrical cords combined with
fragments of the artist’s earlier works, material culled from his personal archive
and detritus found throughout the city. By uniting each of these elements, Cabrita
Reis created a truly complex visual narrative that overtakes and occupies the
space in which it was installed.
Although many of the artist’s works are three-dimensional in character, Cabrita
Reis sees his pieces as both informed by painting and functioning aesthetically
within the pictorial register. Despite the industrial material used in his projects,
the artist creates his work in line with the vernacular ascribed to painting, thereby
broadening the scope of contemporary practices. CabritaReis’ construction at
The Power Plant continues this possibility and offers an alternate view on
contemporary modes of art making.
Pedro Cabrita Reis was born Lisbon, Portugal, 1956, where he lives and works. In
2013, he created a site-specific work A remote whisper at the 55th Venice
Biennale and in 2003 he represented Portugal at the 50th Venice Biennale. Reis
has exhibited extensively across the globe, including exhibitions at the Tate
Modern, London (2013), Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon (2011), M - Museum
for Contemporary Art, Leuven (2011), Carré d’Art, Nîmes, (2010), Hamburger
Kunsthalle (2009), Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2009), Biennale de Lyon,
France (2009), Fondazione Merz, Torino (2008), Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2008),
Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2006), Modern Art Center, Gulbenkian
Foundation, Lisbon (2006), Kunsthalle Bern (2004), Camden Arts Centre,
London (2004), 24th São Paulo Biennale (1998), 21st São Paulo Biennale
(1994), and Documenta IX, Kassel (1992).
20 September 2014 - 4 January 2015
Curator: Gaetane Verna
The Power Plant is pleased to present the first Canadian solo exhibition of work
by Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis.
The Power Plant is pleased to present the first Canadian solo exhibition of work
by Portuguese artist Pedro Cabrita Reis. The exhibition continues the artist’s
investigation into the perceived boundaries of architecture, sculpture and
painting. Presenting an all-encompassing intervention at The Power Plant,
Cabrita Reis creates and produces this new project with the space of the gallery
in mind.
Throughout his practice, Cabrita Reis at once examines and challenges the ways
in which sculpture and painting might alter, define or question the limits of space.
In order to do so, his work is often site-specific and created in situ thus
embodying the process of art making. Various materials are used throughout the
artist’s work. He combines everyday objects such as chairs, tables or doors with
industrial materials such as neon lights, steel girders and bricks. In so doing,
Cabrita Reis turns the familiar into new and abstract compositions. For instance,
his project A remote whisper (2013), produced on the occasion of the 55th
International Art Exhibition – la Biennale di Venezia, took over the interior of a
domestic space, flowing throughout the rooms and overtaking its walls, doorways
and floors. The immersive environment was created using aluminum bars,
fluorescent lighting and free-hanging black electrical cords combined with
fragments of the artist’s earlier works, material culled from his personal archive
and detritus found throughout the city. By uniting each of these elements, Cabrita
Reis created a truly complex visual narrative that overtakes and occupies the
space in which it was installed.
Although many of the artist’s works are three-dimensional in character, Cabrita
Reis sees his pieces as both informed by painting and functioning aesthetically
within the pictorial register. Despite the industrial material used in his projects,
the artist creates his work in line with the vernacular ascribed to painting, thereby
broadening the scope of contemporary practices. CabritaReis’ construction at
The Power Plant continues this possibility and offers an alternate view on
contemporary modes of art making.
Pedro Cabrita Reis was born Lisbon, Portugal, 1956, where he lives and works. In
2013, he created a site-specific work A remote whisper at the 55th Venice
Biennale and in 2003 he represented Portugal at the 50th Venice Biennale. Reis
has exhibited extensively across the globe, including exhibitions at the Tate
Modern, London (2013), Museu Colecção Berardo, Lisbon (2011), M - Museum
for Contemporary Art, Leuven (2011), Carré d’Art, Nîmes, (2010), Hamburger
Kunsthalle (2009), Museo Tamayo, Mexico City (2009), Biennale de Lyon,
France (2009), Fondazione Merz, Torino (2008), Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2008),
Museo d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome (2006), Modern Art Center, Gulbenkian
Foundation, Lisbon (2006), Kunsthalle Bern (2004), Camden Arts Centre,
London (2004), 24th São Paulo Biennale (1998), 21st São Paulo Biennale
(1994), and Documenta IX, Kassel (1992).