Red Tape

Red Tape

overview

14 May – 12 July 2022
Inaugural Year

title: Red Tape

artists:
Ai Weiwei (China)
António Ole (Angola)
Graeme Williams (África do Sul)
Isaque Pinheiro (Portugal)
John Trashkowsky (Suica)
Khaled Jarrar (Territorios da Palestina)
Marcelo Brodsky (Argentina)
Gideon Mendel (África do Sul)
Miguel Palma (Portugal)
Isaque Pinheiro

curadoria: Inês Valle

The .insofar art gallery presents the group exhibition RED TAPE that brings together projects by nine artists with a socio-political narrative. This exhibition curated by Inês Valle includes works by Ai Weiwei (China), António Ole (Angola), Graeme Williams (South Africa), Isaque Pinheiro (Portugal), John Trashkowsky (Switzerland), Khaled Jarrar (Palestinian Territories), Marcelo Brodsky (Argentina) / Gideon Mendel (South Africa) and Miguel Palma (Portugal).

In this exhibition emblematic artworks are on view, namely Ai Weiwei’s “Study of Perspective in Glass”, which crystallises a symbol of protest and revolt against forms of organisation in contemporary society. Graeme Williams’ 1991 photographic work “Toyi-Toyi” from his renowned ‘Struggle for Democracy’ series, that became one of the symbols of the end of Apartheid in South Africa, which was later appropriated in 2008 by Hank Willis Thomas, triggering a copyright dispute. It is also shown António Ole’s iconic work, “On the Taking the Pill (1970)”, one of the first works by African artists on this subject, which is here revisited through a limited serigraph edition celebrating women’s rights.

RED TAPE incites people to reflect on fundamental rights and freedoms which should be permanently vindicated. 

Open to the public until 12 July.

essay
invited artists profile

Ai Weiwei (China)

Ai Weiwei (1957, Beijing) lives and works in multiple locations, including Beijing (China), Berlin (Germany), Cambridge (UK) and Lisbon (Portugal). He is a multimedia artist who also works in film, writing and social media. 

more about the artist   Bio | CV

António Ole (Angola)

António Ole is a leading figure in the history of artistic developments in Angola and one of the most active on the international contemporary art scene among the Portuguese-speaking African artists. His rich and diversified visual universe is bound in the vivid intersection of direct observation, historical memory, far-reaching references and pressing contemporary issues such as poverty, inequity, migration, corruption and unsustainable development. His immediate cultural and natural surroundings are continuous sources of inspiration. Throughout his work, the artist often pays tribute to the simple beauty and spontaneous creativity thriving among the Angolan population and which are noticeable in all aspects of people’s daily lives. His work is part of major art collections, including: Assembleia da República, Lisboa; Banco Espírito Santo, Luanda; Banco Nacional de Angola, Luanda; Centro Cultural Português, Luanda; Costa Reis – Compilação de Arte, Luanda; Culturgest, Lisbon; Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit; ENSA – Seguros de Angola, Luanda; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Fundação Sindika Dokolo; The Gencor Collection, Joanesburgo; Linda Givon Collection, Joanesburgo; Museu de Angola, Luanda; Museum of African American Art, Los Angeles; Staatliche Museum – Dahlen, Berlin

more about the artist   Bio | CV

Graeme Williams (South Africa, 1961)

Graeme Williams was born in Cape Town, South Africa. Williams, for more than thirty years, has worked on highly personal photographic essays reflecting his response to South Africa’s complex evolution. His work has been shown in solo exhibitions in South Africa, the USA, France, Portugal and the United Kingdom as well as many collective shows including the Figures and Fictions (2011) at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. In 2014 a set of images from the series A city refracted was included in the Aperture Summer Open in New York. In 2017 images from the series, As the grass grows, were included in the Louis Vuitton Foundation’s Being There, a collective exhibition showcasing contemporary South African art. In 2008, as Barack Obama sought the Presidency and raced for the position against John McCain, Newsweek magazine ran a story asking each candidate to choose an image that best personified their worldview. Obama’s team chose a township image that Williams took in 1991. His work is featured in several permanent collections including The Smithsonian (USA), The South African National Gallery (SA), The Rotterdam Museum of Ethnology (Holland), Duke University (USA), The North Carolina Museum of Art (USA), The St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Arts (USA), The Finnish School of Photography, and Cape Town University (SA).

more about the artist   Bio | CV

Isaque Pinheiro (Portugal)

An artist’s biography is something that is developed over time and can manifest itself as parallel to the work, a right and a poetic freedom. In the case of Isaque Pinheiro, born in 1972 in Lisbon, we can reinforce the idea of the biography, as something designed and constructed.  Isaque Pinheiro has shown his work in several art galleries, museums and biennials including Stenersen Museum (Oslo, Norway), The Galician Contemporary Art Centre (CGAC) (Spain), Caixa Cultural do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), XXI International Biennial of Cerveira (Portugal), Trio Bienal (Brazil), Maia Biennial (Portugal), European Culture Capital (Portugal), Soares dos Reis Museum (Portugal).

His work is part of several public art collections, including PLMJ Foundation (PT), EDP Foundation/ MAAT (PT), Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Museum (PT), MG Collection (PT), Biennial Museum of Cerveira, Galician Centre of Contemporary Art (SP), Caixanova Foundation (SP), Municipal Art Collection of Contemporary Art (PT), Water Closet 11 (PT), Galila Barzilai Hollander (BE) and Edson Queiroz Foundation (BR); and is present in many private art collections in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, France, Spain, USA, and Portugal.

more about the artist   Bio | CV

John Trashkowsky (Switzerland, 1978)

The art of John Trashkowsky is a sharp and satirical observation of societal topics, with timeless conclusions. His remixes and new interpretations of everyday objects turn big questions of our time into unique artworks. The mission is to surprise us out of our antipsychotic, coffee-swilling, anxiety-ridden pill-popping paranoia with products that make us want to jump out of our skin, with joy or irritation. His work was presented in New York, Barcelona, Paris, Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Basel, Zurich, Sophia, Moskau, Seoul, Hong Kong and many other locations.

 

more about the artist   Bio | CV

Khaled Jarrar (Palestinian Territories)

Khaled Jarrar’s work explores modern power struggles and their sociocultural impact on ordinary citizens. He completed his studies in interior design at the Palestine Polytechnic University in 1996, and began working in photography. He garnered significant attention for his exhibition in 2004 at the Howarra and Qalandya checkpoints where his photos were displayed to attract the attention of Israeli soldiers. In 2011 he graduated from the International Academy of Art (Palestine). His recent work “Live and Work in Palestine” was the first unofficial Palestinian stamp. Khaled used it to stamp passports of people from all nationalities who volunteered. The everyday objects appearing in Jarrar’s reflective work, whether by their shape or nature, are juxtaposed with the severity of the issues he examines, giving the political content of his art greater significance while underscoring the autobiographical nature of his themes.

more about the artist   Bio | CV

Marcelo Brodsky (Argentina)

Marcelo Brodsky is considered one of the most important contemporary artists in Argentina, being an international visual artist and a human rights activist, he focuses on visual language, Memory and Human Rights. Predominantly working with images, text and archival documents on specific events to investigate social, political, historical realities deserving of public awareness, where he tried to build up alternative narratives.

He has been awarded with distinctions and received many accolades, such as the Dr. Jean Mayer Award of Global Citizenship at Tufts University, Boston (2015) and The B’nai Brith Award for Human Rights (2003), among others. His work has been shown in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Argentina, Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Peru, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Israel and USA, among others. His work is part of major collections such as: Tate (UK), MET–The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York (USA), Pinacoteca del Estado, São Paulo (BR), National Museum of Fine Arts (AR), Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (USA), Jewish Museum, New York (USA), Moderno Museum Buenos Aires (AR), among others.

more about the artist   Bio | CV

Gideon Mendel (South Africa)

Gideon Mendel’s intimate style of image-making and long-term commitment to socially engaged projects has earned international recognition. Born in Johannesburg in 1959, Mendel began his career as a news and ‘struggle’ photographer documenting the final years of apartheid in South Africa. This experience marked him deeply, and much of his subsequent work has been engaged with the key issues facing his generation. In 1991 he moved to London, and continued to respond to global concerns, especially HIV/AIDS. Since 2007, using stills and video, Mendel has been developing a variety of narrative threads in response to our global climate emergency.  For many years his main focus was Drowning World, an art and advocacy project about flooding. This work has been seen in many publications including National Geographic, Geo and the Guardian Magazine. Along with this his images have been used in many climate protests, while his photographs and video pieces are increasingly seen in a variety of gallery and museum contexts. More recently Mendel has extended his work about climate change to incorporate the element of fire with the Burning World project. He has received the inaugural Jackson Pollock Prize for Creativity and the Greenpeace Photo Award. Shortlisted for the Prix Pictet in 2015 and 2019, he has also received the Eugene Smith Award for Humanistic Photography, the Amnesty International Media Award, and six World Press awards.

 

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Miguel Palma (Portugal, 1964)

Miguel Palma is an artist who appropriates the narratives of a modernity in permanent querying to better reflect on the present, he is clearly fascinated by icons of classical modernity: the aviation world, the motor car, architecture, nature (more or less domesticated), and technology in general. With a career of over three decades, his works cover different media, such as sculpture, video, installation, drawing, and performance. He is represented in many public and private collections, both national and internationally, such as Serralves Foundation (PT), Berardo Collection (PT), Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (PT), National Museum of Contemporary Art (PT) Centre Pompidou (FR), FRAC – Limousin (FR), FRAC – Centre (FR), IAC – Institut d’Art Contemporain (FR), CCC – Centre de Création Contemporaine (FR), CGAC – Centro Gallego de Arte Contemporáneo (ES), Colección ARCO (ES), MUDAM – Musée D’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (LU), ASU Art Museum – Arizona State University Museum (USA), Phoenix Art Museum (USA), among others.

more about the artist   Bio | CV

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