RuralizArte

ART IN THE COUNTRYSIDE

The Arts Center

With 17 very different pieces of art, “RuralizArte” features artists from Portugal, Spain, London and Cape Verde. Some of the artists have been with us for a number of years and it was our goal to have their work on display here. There are others whose works have been part of our collection since the beginning. And then there are those artists we’ve gotten to know better recently and didn’t want to miss out on.

Our Arts Centre has received significant funding from the Ministry of Culture’s “Garantir Cultura” program, which we joined in 2022. Over the 9 months that the [entre Janeiro e Setembro de 2022] project has been running, we have created a strong dynamic that is a real showcase of artists, and our aim is to strengthen the “Art” component of our space in order to contribute to a diversified offer for all those who come to visit the area where we are located.

Knowing that tourists don’t come to the Algarve, let alone to low-density areas, to consume art, we also know that the better their vacation experience, the greater the value they place on the region. It was in pursuit of this goal that we decided to apply to the “Garantir Cultura” program and that we enthusiastically developed our “RuralizArte”. In developing the project, we brought together artists from various disciplines, from graffiti, painting, tapestry, digital art, street art, among other wonderful manifestations!

O Vento Enfim Parou

O Vento Enfim Parou

ANA SOUSA

Quo vadis, Rara avis

Quo vadis, Rara avis

PAULO DUARTE FILIPE

Lisboa Gráfica

Lisboa Gráfica

RUI ROSA

Cana e Luz

Cana e Luz

VILMA ANDRÉ

Autores Portugueses

Autores Portugueses

ELIAS GATO

Comandando a Terra Através dos Símbolos

Comandando a Terra Através dos Símbolos

JÚLIO ANTÃO

Black Boy

Black Boy

IBANEZ BARNABÉ

Atomic 8

Atomic 8

IBANEZ BARNABÉ

Figuras

Figuras

CARLOS DUTRA

Man on a Mission / Me Myself and I / I Will Survive

Man on a Mission / Me Myself and I / I Will Survive

VALDEMAR DORIA

Passagem divina

Passagem divina

JÚLIO ANTÃO

Guitarra sem voz

Guitarra sem voz

JÚLIO ANTÃO

Pelas memórias que guardo no gesto e no traço

Pelas memórias que guardo no gesto e no traço

VILMA ANDRÉ

Candeeiros em chapa de cobre

Candeeiros em chapa de cobre

SANDRA LOURO

Ai Xico Xica

Ai Xico Xica

XU PIMENTÃO

A Princípio é Simples

A Princípio é Simples

ANA SOUSA

Algarve, um território de tangíveis e edificadas singularidades

Algarve, um território de tangíveis e edificadas singularidades

FILIPE DA PALMA

Malhão

Malhão

JORGE SIMÃO

Sem City

Sem City

SEN

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ana sousa

«The Wind Has Stopped At Last»

Plastic paint on wall

«Taking a verse from a Sérgio Godinho song as its motto, this site-specific mural painting, created as part of the Monte do Malhão – Rural Art project, by Ana de Sousa (July 2022), evokes the transition from the daily hustle and bustle of city dwellers to the tranquillity experienced by all those who inhabit this rural tourism site, even if it’s just for one night. Located at the entrance to Monte do Malhão, this piece of street art welcomes those who arrive, with the promise that the wind it brings will dissipate in the horizontality of the landscape. In the center left of the representation stands the shadow of a leafy and delicate almond tree, so characteristic of the Algarve that it gave rise to the legend of the almond blossom, a phenomenon that only occurs in spring. A mild and soothing time, close to nature and far from all the constraints that take us away from ourselves, is precisely what this project proposes. Complementing the tree’s shadow are the shadows of four figures on the right: a boy in a cap holding a stick, two others playing the accordion and a girl with a flower, with slender, fragile feet, reminiscent of a carnation, a symbol of freedom in Portuguese culture. The shadows of these young beings, permanent inhabitants of Malhão, take us back to childhood/youth, combining the joy that springs from freedom (to play, touch and see) with the idea of dreaming. This is what Monte do Malhão is: a place that is the fruit of dreams and invites us to stop and dream, as if spring had arrived and our dreams were opening in bloom.».

About the Author

Lisbon, February 4, 1980. With a degree in Fine Arts - Painting (2003), a master's degree (2007) and a PhD (2016) in Art Education from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, Ana Sousa has been a lecturer at this institution (since 2009), artist and researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Fine Arts, where she coordinates the Art Education group. In the fields of painting and photography, one of his latest exhibitions is entitled Na véspera de não partir nunca and took place at Quinta da Cruz, in Viseu, from July 21 to September 5, 2017. As a fiber artist, she has been exhibiting regularly since 2002, with numerous exhibitions at the Guy Fino Tapestry Museum in Portalegre. Also at a national level, his participation in the group exhibition Palimpsesto, curated by Maria Manuela Lopes and organized by the Cultivamos Cultura association, at the Penafiel Municipal Museum, from January 17 to February 9, 2020, is noteworthy. Internationally, she took part in the Verbeke Foundation's Winter Exhibition in Kemzeke, Belgium, from November 15, 2015 to March 14, 2016. As a lecturer and researcher, she teaches on the PhD in Art Education, the MA in Art Education and the MA in Visual Arts Teaching at the University of Lisbon, developing collaborative and constructivist studies in the fields of teacher training and visual arts didactics. She is also a collaborating researcher at the University of São Paulo and co-responsible for the ConfiArte project: Re-Creative Art-Citizenship Workshops, sponsored by DGArtes.

Júlio Antão

«Commanding the Earth Through Symbols»

Sculpture, assemblage, photomontage, installation and painting

The Cross is one of humanity’s oldest, most powerful and universal symbols. With particular popular meanings: glorified by different spiritual concepts; present in various cultures and religions; mentioned in most philosophical currents; often used for contradictory purposes. His presence witnessed infinite sacrifices, punishments, martyrdoms, pains, exorcisms and exaltations.

TAU CROSS (Crux Commissa)
It is one of the oldest crosses in the world. It is considered the symbol of salvation. St. Anthony carried it in his cloak. St. Francis of Assisi adopted it as his personal coat of arms.

LATIN CROSS (Crux Immissa)
It is the cross best known for having been used in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. It also symbolizes resurrection and the hope of eternal life. It is the supreme symbol of the Christian faith.

CRUZ PETRINA (St. Peter’s Cross or Inverted Cross)
It’s an inverted Latin cross. It is one of the symbols of the Catholic Church. It’s called inverted because the apostle St. Peter was crucified upside down because he didn’t think he was worthy of the same crucifixion as Christ. Today, this cross is associated with an imaginary antichrist. It also represents one of the medieval satanist symbols. That’s why many satanic sects use the cross as a symbol of the forces of evil and the devil.

GREEK CROSS (Square Cross or Basic Cross)
It represents the balance between the divine and the earthly, between matter and spirit, the masculine and the feminine. It symbolizes unity and harmony. Its equal arms symbolize the four cardinal points. It emerged many years ago in different parts of the world. Although its meaning involves some mystery, it is often associated with spirituality and religiosity, but it can also be a pagan symbol. Although it is called a Greek cross, this cross was found by archaeologists in primitive regions of Central America. This cross was already used by the ancient Greeks and Romans. It is a symbol that appears in many types of manuscripts, especially in the medieval period. It served as a reference for drawing up plans for churches and religious temples.

RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CROSS (Byzantine Cross, Eastern Cross, Slavonic Cross, Easter Cross)
It is a variant of the Christian Cross and a symbol of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was first used in the churches of Slavic countries. And it was very common in the Byzantine Empire. The upper arm represents the abbreviated inscription “INRI”, which Pilate placed on Jesus’ head.

CATACOMB CROSS
This cross is made up of two Latin crosses. One seems to be a reflection of the other. The lower, inverted cross is the representation of evil. Ultimately, it is a representation of heaven and hell, good and evil, light and darkness, death and life.
Six pieces, each representing a different cross, were selected to make up this series of assemblages. In these works, Júlio Antão clearly defines himself as a collector.
The definition of “Assemblage” was created by Jean Dubuffet in 1953, but it became part of art history when in 1961 the first exhibition, “The Art of Assemblage”, was held at MoMA – Museum of Modern Art of Nova lorque.
This exhibition brought together renowned European (Braque, Dubuffet, Marcel Duchamp, Picasso, etc.) and American (Man Ray, Joseph Cornell, Robert Rauschenberg, etc.) artists.
However, this artistic technique had been explored since the beginning of the 20th century. Picasso was already making three-dimensional cubist constructions in 1912. The conception of the assemblage is the articulation and reconfiguration of diverse materials and common objects in the execution of the artwork. This concept, which had already been practiced by Dadaism, aimed to break down the boundaries between everyday life and art.

About the Author

Born in Albufeira - Portugal (1966), he is a multidisciplinary artist. As well as painting and sculpture, he explores other areas of art, such as ceramics, photography, equipment design, interiors and advertising. In 2011 he was one of the founding members of PAS - Peace and Art Society, Portugal and is currently the President of this International Art Association. He is an Honorary Member of the artists' initiative GAPi - Genuine Art Projects international, Holland and Executive Co-curator of the GAPi exhibitions in Portugal and Spain. He is Honorary President of the Art Committee of the International Culture & Arts Federation, South Korea. He is an Honorary Member of the Nigde Fine Arts Association, Turkey and was a Member of ArtNations, Germany, until it ended in December 2016. In recent years he has exhibited his work in various countries such as: Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Belgium, the Netherlands, Macedonia, England, Iran, the Republic of Korea, Turkey, Mexico, Peru, Cuba, Chile, Colombia and Ecuador. His curriculum includes several awards for painting, sculpture and photography. His work is represented in public and private, national and international collections.

Vilma André

«For the memories I keep in my gestures and traces»

Watercolor pencils

This collection of drawings made between 2020 and 2021 comes from a liberation from ideals of drawing perfection, its techniques and artistic quality. It is marked by letting the individual gesture flow, in a freedom of concepts and traits, giving way to that feeling of well-being when we do something we like without any other objective or without the obligation of being grown up. Almost all of these drawings were made in the Algarve, the place where I was born and grew up, where I return to often and where I find myself every time I go back. It’s the culmination of a phase, at a time of global slowdown, and an opportunity for reflection and relaxation. All the drawings were made over 2 to 3 hours immersed in nature and in the solitude and silence of those who know how to wait. In the shade of an orange tree on a summer’s afternoon, I sat down on a bench with my pencil case and a pad of watercolor paper and began my first drawings, depicting the last oranges left in the neighbor’s garden, which were neither the prettiest nor the largest. I remember my early childhood, peeling each orange and my fingers, mouth and cheeks sticky from the sugar that dripped into the juice. I also remember all the times I cycled through the orange grove on my way to the beach, where in the late afternoon you could, and still can, see wild rabbits. In one week I draw six pictures, and I still remember all those sunny summer days eating figs fresh from the tree. The mouth sores left by the unripe fruit and the reed mats and sacks stretched out in the sun. The sound of reeds rustling in the almond trees and the smell of almonds and roasted figs coming out of the wood ovens in mid-autumn still come to mind. As I walk among the olive trees looking for the best angle for a drawing, I remember the work in the fields, the work of the men, the first and second generation uncles, and the reminiscences of a still rural Algarve. The smell of plowed land, the sound of tractors, the sweeping of olive trees and olives falling to the ground like freshly fired bullets. I also remember the forays into the countryside with my mother, grandmother and aunts, in the heat of May, to pick the Espiga. Even after all these years, I still can’t remember how many wheat and olive branches there are. And the pomegranate tree? How beautiful it is in May. The blossoming trees and poppies give the grateful hills a splash of bright red. Looking at the texture of the still green quinces, I remember the smell of the syrup being boiled for the jams and the hint of lemon, cloves and cinnamon. And through the winter, I remember the cold nights of the new year, when, in the middle of some melancholy, the first flower on the almond tree appears, white, shining in the dark, as delicate as the renewal of every hope. I can taste all the flavors, smell all the smells, see all the colors with my eyes closed, and I carry in my gestures and lines all the sensations of those who observe their surroundings and appreciate all these forms of natural energy that are so present in the various phases of our lives. It’s always a return to our origins and our memories that brings us back to who we truly are. It’s also the only place where we can be original in our most authentic form.

About the Author

Castro Marim, 1985, with a degree in Equipment Design from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon (2008), I currently live and work in Lisbon, where I am responsible for the showroom and projects of the Spanish furniture brand Gandia Blasco. My constant curiosity and love of learning and experimentation led me to a very diverse career in design and the visual arts. Alongside various training courses, internships and jobs in these areas, both inside and outside Portugal, I have been developing my personal projects and freelance work since early on (2009), ranging from graphic design and furniture and interior design to drawing, illustration, fine arts and project management. Instagram: @vilma_andre

Xu Pimentão

«Ai Xico Xica»

Espetáculo de rua

Sobre a busca de um passado
Sobre o viver um presente
E um pensar o futuro
Espetáculo de rua onde um casal de bonecos/marionetas, ganha vida nas mãos do manipulador. São contadas histórias de amor e galanteio. É um elemento transformador da vida numa magia que nos faz sair da realidade pelo seu grande poder de sugestão. Inspira-se na dança e no movimento folclórico em relação com linguagens contemporâneas.
O espetáculo propõe um teatro de evasão, que entende a própria cidade como dramaturgia. Fazendo-se valer da paisagem urbana como elemento cénico. Cada um de nós e nossas emoções aqui representadas, tradições e costumes portugueses em relação com o mundo contemporâneo, as cores fortes e reluzentes dos trajes, o som repetitivo dos instrumentos tradicionais tocados e manipulados, o som de fundo das cidades, dos risos e das palmas do publico que por ali vão passando. A história transforma a vida momentaneamente numa magia. Faz – nos sair da realidade por breves momentos e chega a espectadores que passam ocasionalmente na rua. Todo o ambiente temático centra-se no movimento inspira-se nas danças, instrumentos, sons e letras regionais como o vira, a chula, o corridinho, a tirana e o fandango e relaciona-se com novas tendências artísticas e experimentais.

O espetáculo tem uma duração de 2 horas aproximadamente, com repetição das três coreografias/danças diferentes.

A música, banda sonora dará a marcação das cenas e ajuda-nos a envolver no espetáculo. O quotidiano, as emoções, o passado e futuro são o mote para a abordagem musical. Para sentir, recordar e viver sem medos de desbravar novos caminhos.

CONCLUSÃO

A necessidade de afirmação de ideias no tempo presente mesmo que essas ideias tenham ecos em épocas passadas. Esta necessidade de transgressão que existe em todos os tempos de sentirmos que o tempo é nosso e que tem de ser vivido naquele preciso momento. Há épocas de mais expansão e épocas em que existe uma regressão mas em todas as épocas viveram pessoas com sede de mudança e com fortes convicções sobre a importância da imaginação na vida dos humanos.

Toda a arte tem assim uma dimensão social, política e estética. Se nas duas primeiras características há um olhar para o mundo com um sentido de alerta, revolta, construção. Na terceira característica à uma relação com o belo e o sublime.
E aqui me encontrarei…

Ana Sousa

«At first it's simple»

Tapestry

“At first it’s simple” is a work that takes us back to our original state, when we are still nothing (“raw cloth”) and, at the same time, we start to become something (threads that are sewn together).
Evoking the song “O primeiro dia”, by Sérgio Godinho (1978), he talks about beginnings and successive restarts, about how a first day is always possible, a detour or even an inversion of meaning.
Like Almada Negreiros’s panel “Começar” (1968), it is made up of complementary shapes that contaminate each other in figure-ground games or in the multiplication of lines and tones. However, far from the “rigor of the line” (Lígia Penim, 2000) of the mathematical formulas in this panel, “At first it’s simple” is admittedly irregular and organic, reminiscent of the curves “of what is warm and resembles what is firm and what is vague, this womb that I caress, that I would drink in one gulp if I could” (Espalhem a Notícia, Sérgio Godinho, 1981).
Yes, because this work is about life, not only germinating (the beginning), but also ceasing (the end or the passage) and the simplicity that characterizes these seemingly opposite moments. As Amélia Muge sings, “to be alive is to be dying” and as Susanna Tamaro so aptly identifies, “childhood and old age are very similar”, because at both stages “you’re quite inert. You haven’t yet – or haven’t yet – taken an active part in life and this allows you to live with an open, schema-free sensitivity.”
On the way to the indoor pool at Monte do Malhão, “At first it’s simple” challenges you to quietly undress the “invisible armor” that has formed around your body and is a reflection of the prisons of your soul, to untie the knots and let the weave be seen, to dive in and free yourself, returning to the warmth of vulnerability that makes us so close, “grains of the same millstone” (Sérgio Godinho, 2018).

About the Author

Lisbon, February 4, 1980. With a degree in Fine Arts - Painting (2003), a master's degree (2007) and a PhD (2016) in Art Education from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, Ana Sousa has been a lecturer at this institution (since 2009), artist and researcher at the Center for Research and Studies in Fine Arts, where she coordinates the Art Education group. In the fields of painting and photography, one of his latest exhibitions is entitled Na véspera de não partir nunca and took place at Quinta da Cruz, in Viseu, from July 21 to September 5, 2017. As a fiber artist, she has been exhibiting regularly since 2002, with numerous exhibitions at the Guy Fino Tapestry Museum in Portalegre. Also at a national level, his participation in the group exhibition Palimpsesto, curated by Maria Manuela Lopes and organized by the Cultivamos Cultura association, at the Penafiel Municipal Museum, from January 17 to February 9, 2020, is noteworthy. Internationally, she took part in the Verbeke Foundation's Winter Exhibition in Kemzeke, Belgium, from November 15, 2015 to March 14, 2016. As a lecturer and researcher, she teaches on the PhD in Art Education, the MA in Art Education and the MA in Visual Arts Teaching at the University of Lisbon, developing collaborative and constructivist studies in the fields of teacher training and visual arts didactics. She is also a collaborating researcher at the University of São Paulo and co-responsible for the ConfiArte project: Re-Creative Art-Citizenship Workshops, sponsored by DGArtes.

Filipe da Palma

«Algarve, a territory of tangible and edified singularities»

Work details

The body of images presented to you is a small set of still existing – but already residual – built realities in which the utilitarian is overlaid by the application of elements that take it towards the realm of Art and Beauty.
With the natural pulse of life, in which there was an economic respite for those who lived here, there was a desire to stamp on the façade of the house the ostentatious affirmation that life was going well for them. Thus, the Algarve’s popular architecture abandoned the pure and arid utilitarian lines and began in an impressionistic way to transform and build a façade house, communicating with the public space.
Whimsical chimneys, platbands that drew on multiple influences, the use of multiple ornaments, the use of chromatic patterns on the entire façade, carved stone work (stonework) and carpentry on windows and doors, often bordering on carpentry, gave the entire territory an image that was characterized by a rich and kaleidoscopic multiplicity.

About the Author

Born in 1971 in São Brás de Alportel. He attended the Photography course at the Center for Art and Visual Communication (AR.CO) in 1995. From that date to the present, he has been working in photography over the years: Photographer for various publications, including Descobrir magazine, Fórum Ambiente magazine, Ideias e Negócios magazine, Fórum Estudante magazine and newspaper, Cybernet magazine, Music-net online magazine, Casas de Portugal magazine, Correio da Manhã Sunday magazine, Unibanco magazine, Cais magazine. Freelance photographer, producing work in close collaboration with some of the above-mentioned titles, for several Algarve City Councils, for some Parish Councils, for the Algarve Region Coordination Commission, selling single images to various institutions, collaborating with some Marketing and Communication companies, photographing concerts, colloquiums, fairs and exhibitions, photographer for the Algarve Region's tourist promotion magazine - Algarve Tips. Photographer for the Municipality of Albufeira in the recent past and for some years now photographer for the Municipality of Portimão Participation with works in various books. Aside from everything that has been written above, I have been developing a body of work over time - for around 25 years - that consists of taking images that bear witness to the existence of an Algarve that was characterized by its uniqueness, particularly in the aspect of popular architecture, diverse in the solutions adopted by the population that lives in this territory. This work has taken shape in various exhibitions in the region.