Francisco Vidal
Again, again and again! 500 outras coisas (Again, again and again! 500 other things), 2008, by Francisco Vidal
This work is about the history of painting, but also about another historic gap of 500 years, 500 sheets of paper, of how we always print the same… It is also the record of a performance that is based on a ream of sheets of paper, size A3 where, through a serigraphic process, the word “again” is repeatedly printed. A ream has 500 sheets of paper, which can be related with the 500 years of the “Portuguese Discoveries” or with 500 other things. The action has been recorded in video and it comes with a mural drawing and a sound record, which uses composition techniques such as sampling and repetition. Like this, I can connect the artist’s means of expression (which is the one that mostly influences me) with the possibility that the DJ has of linking and mixing ideas, asking and mixing questions… The installation that originated this work was produced as an artist in residence program at the Art Gallery ZDB.
FRRANCISCO VIDAL was born in Lisbon (Portugal) in 1978, and lives and works in Lisbon and Berlin. After training as a sculptor at ESAD in Caldas da Rainha and attending the Maumaus School of Visual Arts, in Lisbon, he started drawing and painting, towards the study, from a personal perspective, of what is singular and universal. The objects he creates have different dimensions: from the intimate graphic and travel drawings to the large wall paintings. The artist comes from the first new generation born after the Portuguese revolution. His parents come from two different former Portuguese colonies (Cape Verde and Angola) and as a result his artistic production mainly deals with the study of personal and group “identity” and the notions of “border” and “scale.” He has participated in group exhibitions, including the touring show Troca de Olhares (Gaze Exchange), at the Cultural Centres of Camões Institute, in Luanda, Maputo and Praia (2007). His solo exhibitions include Subbus (2006) at the 111 Gallery in Lisbon and Ecotone (2007), at the 111 Gallery in Porto. He is represented in the project Artafrica from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation/Center for Comparatist Studies of the University of Lisbon.