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ROOMS 5 AND 6
Signals and Signs
FOR ALL AGES
Event
Number, letter, word, spelling, onomatopoeia, phrase... are all elements of a critique of the sign in
José de Guimarães’ oeuvre, in his
permanent deconstruction and
reconstruction of a lexicon.
José de Guimarães’ oeuvre began to be
consolidated in the second half of the 20th century on the basis of graphic signs. One
of his first paintings, entitled Começar (Beginning) (1966), presents the number 1 as
if reflected in a mirror. From the 1960s onwards, he pursued constant research into
the sign, involving different perspectives:
political messages, lyricism, the graphic
discourse of the streets, the alphabet, reliquaries, manifestos and neon signs.
The exhibition Signos Sinais (Signals Signs),
displayed in rooms 5 and 6, corresponds to
a brief chapter in José de Guimarães’ long
narrative about signs, which the CIAJG assumes as a line of ongoing research.
Aimer (To Love), Rejoint (Reunite), Voyage
(Journey), Vent (Wind) are illuminated
words presented on a single occasion in
Brussels (Belgium), in the Tournay-Solvay
Park, in 2006. Originally displayed among
the trees in the middle of the park, next
to bronze birds, José de Guimarães called
them “nomadic voices”. The artist’s experimental richness is expressed by other
works produced with neon light, together
with drawings that combine the rigid typography and fluidity of the contours.
José de Guimarães was born
in Guimarães, in 1939. He lives
and works in Lisbon and Paris.
An engineer by training, he
studied artistic techniques at the
Portuguese Engravers Cooperative Society. He served as a
soldier in Angola, between 1967
and 1974, during the colonial
war. He participated in several
avant-garde cultural events and
published the manifesto “Arte
Perturbadora!” (Disturbing art)
in 1968. His work, produced
over more than fifty decades,
is represented in the most important institutional collections in
Portugal and around the world.
His artistic approach focuses
on intersections with the art
of non-Western civilizations
- African, Chinese and Meso-American – in an incessant search
for non-verbal relations, also
linked to the collector’s activity,
to which he has dedicated his
time over various decades. Over
the last decade, anthological or
retrospective exhibitions have
been dedicated to his work in
Portugal, Germany, Switzerland,
Brazil, Angola, China, Japan,
among others.