Totem

Manuel Caeiro

From Apr 16 to May 24 2013

Overlapping geometric forms, rectangular shapes and interlocking diagonals make up Manuel Caeiro's artistic vocabulary, all of which clearly visible in his recent works on display in Totem. In their versatility these key components always open up a three-dimensional space, exploring the boundary between figuration and abstraction and playing with the idea of the Trompe L?Oeil. Strict, spatial and in vibrant colours against white backgrounds, they unfold architectural fragments of mines, pools or ?difficult? closets. Some structures are solid and grounded as it is apparent in his paintings Swimming Pool Again - Totem (2012) and Amazing Full Emptiness - A Difficult Closet (2012). Other arrangements are completely suspended in impossible or imaginary terrains without any scale the spectator could refer to, such as the free floating segments in his latest painting Totem (2013), or the beams reaching out into an infinite space, such as in Amazing Full Emptiness or Totem (2012).

The displayed works from various series converge into a single purpose in Totem. Rather than representing concrete structures or places, the spectators find themselves presented with (re)invented or (re)constructed spaces. They do not belong to reality but to the realm of thought: memories, visions and sensations are turned terrestrial and materialized through painting. The artist interest in the idea of the totem stems from a recent preoccupation with what he describes as sacred relics from a spatial adventure. Their function is not restricted to contemplation; the totems do not exist per se. As spectators we are invited to speculate and use our intention to partake in the artist?s journey, converting his proposed fiction into collective memory. By freely choosing our own totem the gallery visit challenges the idea of the totem as exclusive emblem and object of duration. 

Caeiro's subject matter is evidently engaged in a dialogue with architecture and neighbour disciplines such as sculpture. This connection is likewise apparent in the artist?s creation process, which involves the appropriation of tools that subvert traditional painting techniques. Once multiple layers of paint have been applied onto the canvas, the artist subjects the painting repeatedly to extensive scrubbing as well as to extreme heat and water, using a file and a hot air gun. This treatment reflects the artist?s interest in deconstruction and rebuilding as colours re-appear from the background, seeking new meaning as contemporary palimpsests. The painting attains its distinctive surface properties by gaining texture and losing flatness. As a matter of fact, Caeiro?s works are the result of an act of construction rather than painting.

About the artist

Manuel Caeiro’s pictorial research is the product of a refl exion covering various artistic disciplines. Architecture, drawing and painting are confronted in the construction of space, placing the viewer not only as a mere assistant, but also as enjoyer and creator. The house and its ramifi cations occupy, therefore, a central space. From his first works, it is notorious the attention given by Caeiro to the signs of the creation and the creation of time. Memory is perhaps his primary need. The painting conveys the memory of other spaces, spaces which the artist discovers throughout his developments. The pleasure is natural, and the space not a given fact, but in permanent mutation revealed by the creation of these paintings. In his most recent works, recognised through existing security structures in construction sites, Caeiro enhances his pictorial and sculptural potential. His aim is to create pictorially functional spaces that can bring the viewer closer to the architectural structures that appeal to contemplation. Caeiro studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, where he deepened his training in drawing and painting. He began exhibiting individually in 1999, participating since 2001 of various exhbitions in Portugal, Spain, Germany, Belgium, Brazil, Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States. Currently, Manuel Caeiro lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal.