Estimate

15.000 - 18.000

Session

4 February 2016

Hammer Price

Description

Iron

186x42x56 cm

Category

Modern and Contemporary Art

Additional Information

Rui Chafes is one of the most important Portuguese artists of his
generation. He is part of the movement of the return to sculpture
that emerged at the end of the twentieth century. His iron sculptures
transform this heavy material into something apparently light,
organic and fragile.
The artist created this floor sculpture as a form of homage to
Jacques Tati, one of the movie directors that I admire the most and
who represents a rigorous and crystalline form of making movies.
The sculpture evokes this figure but it is also a “portrait of him”: it
“represents” a balloon of air that must be filled by someone who could
situate him/herself in this position, with his/her neck tied to a ring. In
this case that person would be me: it is my height, it was made for my
body. It naturally evolves the lightness of Jacques Tati’s movies (mainly
Parade) and it’s homage by freezing the intangible and immaterial
moment of the air entering the lightness of a balloon and transforming
it into iron.’
The list of Chafes’ recent solo exhibitions include: ‘O peso do paraíso’,
CAM – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon (2014); ‘Carne misteriosa’,
MAM – Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro (2013); ‘Campo de
sombras’, Fundación Luis Seone, A Coruña, Spain (2011); and ‘Enter
through the narrow gate’, Convicinio di Sant’Antonio and Parco
della Gravina, Italy (2011). Together with Vera Mantero, Rui Chafes
represented Portugal at the 26th São Paulo Biennale (2004). He is the
Prémio Pessoa recipient of 2015.