[ english version ]

Oito medalhões de faiança pintados à mão, criados pelo artista Fábio Carvalho durante uma residência artística ano passado em Portugal, serão agora apresentados em exposição individual na galeria Artur Fidalgo.

No final de 2013 o artista Fábio Carvalho participou de uma Residência Artística na Oficina da Formiga, uma pequena oficina cerâmica em Ílhavo, Portugal. Nesta residência artística, a quinta do artista em Portugal, Fábio Carvalho explorou o tradicional método português de pintura em faiança com estêncil (molde vazado), técnica surgida no século XIX, e há muito abandonada pela indústria. A Oficina da Formiga é uma das raras oficinas cerâmicas que preservam esta técnica.

O artista, pensando nos tradicionais pratos de faiança portuguesa com figuração humana, que muitas vezes representam reis, nobres, figuras históricas ou heróis nacionais, e nas figuras de convite da azulejaria portuguesa, criou um desenho original onde vemos um soldado em uniforme camuflado, com asas de borboleta saindo de suas costas.

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Eight hand painted faience medallions, made by artist Fábio Carvalho over an artistic residency in Portugal, will be presented in a solo exhibition at Artur Fidalgo gallery.

By the end of 2013, Fábio Carvalho took part in an artistic residency at Oficina da Formiga, a small pottery workshop in Ílhavo, Portugal. There he was able to explore the traditional Portuguese method of faience stencil painting, a 19th century technique that has been long abandoned by the industries. The Oficina da Formiga is one of the rare potteries that preserves this technique.

The artist, thinking of the traditional Portuguese faience plates that often depict kings, aristocracy, historical figures or national heros and the images in Portuguese tiles, created an original drawing in which we see a soldier in a camouflage uniform, with butterfly wings coming out of his back.

Then, Fábio Carvalho created variations of this first drawing, producing a total of eight pieces. The plates had the rims painted with traditional Portuguese faience patterns. The chosen patterns, although always a floral representation, also suggest barbed wire and other elements used in the trenches.

The use of the monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) on some of Fábio Carvalho’s works goes far beyond the simple fact that butterflies are usually associated with the fragile and delicate feminine universe, as opposed to other symbols usually accepted as belonging to the male gender, which both combined composes the main dialectic of his artistic production, which seeks to raise a discussion on gender stereotypes, and to question the common sense that strength and fragility, poetry and virility, masculinity and vulnerability cannot coexist .

The specific use for the monarch butterfly came as a counterpoint to the camouflage uniforms. Monarch butterflies are toxic, and therefore avoided by predators. There is however, other non-poisoned butterfly species that mimic the monarch’s colourful, exuberant pattern, with obvious benefit since they are also avoided by predators.

With camouflage, one wants to blend in with the environment so as to not be seen. In mimicking it is the contrary – you draw a lot of attention for pretending to be who you are not. But both are equally survival, protecting strategies, that aim at confusing and misleading.

“Exército Monarca” by Fábio Carvalho
Artur Fidalgo Galeria
R. Siqueira Campos, 143 2° piso ljs 147/150 – Copacabana – RJ/RJ
(21) 2549-6278 | [email protected]
visiting times: monday to saturday, 10h - 19h
untill april 30th