Catarina Dias
15 Apr - 13 Jun 2010
CATARINA DIAS
“Mystic Diver”
April 15th to June 13th
Pavilhão Preto do Museu da Cidade, Lisbon
Mystic Diver accomplishes, on various media, an examination of the domain where representation leaves clues so one may deduce an alternative unity.
The strategy is straightforward and, in the work that acted as the catalyst for the collaborative process, that of Catarina Dias, it operates through the medium of contrast.
An examination of the state of things – the great consensual illusion on which our apocalyptic reality is constructed, embroiled in technological models and in matters of the body, superimposed and stuck, referencing the fragmentation of experience in the discontinuous fruit of modernity, and echoing a cinematic succession of dissimilar images – is contrasted with the support, in which the care and thoroughness of the drawing, with its detail, time and aura, the light and silence of the photographs and the detail of time in the materials introduce another possible, palpable dimension that permeates this entire illusion.
In the collaborative project, this characterisation and alternative world take on the various styles of representation. Sound-based, in the work of Sofia Dias (choreographer and performer) and Alex Impey (visual artist); mathematical – 0[zero] as an alternative to Weltanschauung by Ruby Paloma; speculative and conceptual in the ideas of Cíntia Gil and Shimta R.; and architectural in the work of the Kaputt! Collective. These collaborative endeavours are all formally brought together on vinyl and in a book. They accompany Catarina Dias’ drawings, perpetuating in motional terms the project, on exhibition from April 16th to June 13th at the Pavilhão Preto, Museu da Cidade, Lisbon.
[Verónica Metello]
CATARINA DIAS
London 1979.
Attended Escola António Arroio in Lisbon, then studied drawing at Ar.Co (on a Mary and João Lobo Antunes scholarship and, later, a scholarship from the Fundação Carmona e Costa), completing the advanced course in 2002. In the same year, she began a Master's at the Byam Shaw School of Fine Art, University of the Arts, London (with full assistance from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), which she completed with distinction.
In 2008, Catarina Dias obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Greenwich (London) and in the following year she was invited to teach drawing at the London College of Fashion (London).
Catarina Dias has participated in various collective exhibitions in both Portugal and England. The current show is the artist's third solo exhibition. In 2009, she took part in an art residency at the ZDB (Lisbon) and a residency at the Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo) as part of a collaboration with Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz for the stage design of Again from the beginning, later shown at the Festival Les Urbans – MUDAC (Switzerland), Black Box – Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo) and Bomba Suicida (Lisbon). She is currently collaborating on various art projects.
“Mystic Diver”
April 15th to June 13th
Pavilhão Preto do Museu da Cidade, Lisbon
Mystic Diver accomplishes, on various media, an examination of the domain where representation leaves clues so one may deduce an alternative unity.
The strategy is straightforward and, in the work that acted as the catalyst for the collaborative process, that of Catarina Dias, it operates through the medium of contrast.
An examination of the state of things – the great consensual illusion on which our apocalyptic reality is constructed, embroiled in technological models and in matters of the body, superimposed and stuck, referencing the fragmentation of experience in the discontinuous fruit of modernity, and echoing a cinematic succession of dissimilar images – is contrasted with the support, in which the care and thoroughness of the drawing, with its detail, time and aura, the light and silence of the photographs and the detail of time in the materials introduce another possible, palpable dimension that permeates this entire illusion.
In the collaborative project, this characterisation and alternative world take on the various styles of representation. Sound-based, in the work of Sofia Dias (choreographer and performer) and Alex Impey (visual artist); mathematical – 0[zero] as an alternative to Weltanschauung by Ruby Paloma; speculative and conceptual in the ideas of Cíntia Gil and Shimta R.; and architectural in the work of the Kaputt! Collective. These collaborative endeavours are all formally brought together on vinyl and in a book. They accompany Catarina Dias’ drawings, perpetuating in motional terms the project, on exhibition from April 16th to June 13th at the Pavilhão Preto, Museu da Cidade, Lisbon.
[Verónica Metello]
CATARINA DIAS
London 1979.
Attended Escola António Arroio in Lisbon, then studied drawing at Ar.Co (on a Mary and João Lobo Antunes scholarship and, later, a scholarship from the Fundação Carmona e Costa), completing the advanced course in 2002. In the same year, she began a Master's at the Byam Shaw School of Fine Art, University of the Arts, London (with full assistance from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation), which she completed with distinction.
In 2008, Catarina Dias obtained a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from the University of Greenwich (London) and in the following year she was invited to teach drawing at the London College of Fashion (London).
Catarina Dias has participated in various collective exhibitions in both Portugal and England. The current show is the artist's third solo exhibition. In 2009, she took part in an art residency at the ZDB (Lisbon) and a residency at the Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo) as part of a collaboration with Sofia Dias and Vítor Roriz for the stage design of Again from the beginning, later shown at the Festival Les Urbans – MUDAC (Switzerland), Black Box – Espaço do Tempo (Montemor-o-Novo) and Bomba Suicida (Lisbon). She is currently collaborating on various art projects.