(MY DARLING,)
UBIQUITOUS I'M NOT
curated by Bartolomeu Santos
with artists:
Hugo Cantegrel, Francisco Duarte Coelho, Samuel Duarte, JJ Estrada T.,
Margo Fortuny, Vasco Futscher, Jazmín Giordano, Chloë Louise Lawrence,
Maisie Maris, Francisco Osório, Roman Sheppard Dawson
24/05/2023 - 30/06/2023
“If there is the human urge to distinguish oneself, to express one’s own personality,
there is also the urge to belong to something(...)”
I found these artists and was moved by their ideas - I was curious to see more, and to look closer.
(my darling,) ubiquitous I’m not comes from a constant need I had to change places. By doing so, one might lose certain layers of the reality one is moving away from. But isn’t reality a misleading concept? Where and when does it begin or end?
The selection of artworks helps relate to what “reality” is and to what extent it is perceived by ourselves, as well as how we approach it.
Most importantly, one is constantly “sculpting” reality. Artists have an important role in that process.
With this show, I would like to let go of this urge to be in different places at the same time, avoiding FOMO, and embrace non-ubiquity.
To see things more clearly and in a better way, it is helpful to put things in the right perspective.
Artworks exist within certain conditions, and one of them is its embedded provenance. As Isabelle Graw said “…the essence of the artist is somehow embedded in the artwork.”
With all the different approaches of how to deal with reality, these artists helped me approach it with more vigor. These artworks enhance presence, curiosity, and richness.
We are not alone. Things progress due to a collective contribution.
//
Bartolomeu Santos
May 2023
“If there is the human urge to distinguish oneself, to express one’s own personality, there is also the urge to belong to something(...)” - Marjan Unger in Jewellery In Context (Stuttgart: arnoldsche Art Publishers, 2019) p.135
“…the essence of the artist is somehow embedded in the artwork.” - See the press release for Isabelle Graw’s curated show “The Vitalist Economy of Painting” at Galerie Neu, Berlin, September 15 - November 7, 2018, and her book The Love of Painting: Genealogy of a Success Medium (Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2018)