LOURDES CASTRO

LIFE AS IT IS

Galeria Fundação Amélia de Mello, Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Lisboa
Galeria Fundação Amélia de Mello, Universidade Católica Portuguesa - Lisboa
10 MAY - 11 SEPT 2022 | 6pm
2205 LIFE AS IT IS

Life as it is brings together works by Lourdes Castro (Funchal, Madeira, 1930 - 2022) from between the 1950s and the 2000s. After studying Painting in the Escola de Belas-Artes de Lisboa (Lisbon School of Fine Arts), and settling in Paris in 1958, her work soon integrated (and was contextualized by) nouveau réalisme, a movement that attributed an unprecedented role to the relationship between artistic practice and everyday life. One mistake, one inaccuracy at least. At a certain stage, Lourdes Castro’s work integrated outdated trinkets, snatching them from their most likely destination (rubbish), standardised by a layer of metallic paint, but she soon became interested in the theme that has accompanied her whole life: the shadow. For Lourdes Castro, shadows — of people, of objects — are the link between presence and absence, the border between materiality and immateriality. From this discovery, she has built an unquestionably unique body of work, in which the 1960s Plexiglas pieces — a material that has allowed her to present the shadows of shadows — and the sombras deitadas (lying shadows) embroidered on sheets are outstanding.


Posters and artist books — as well as the mythical KWY magazine — show the importance that Lourdes Castro has always attached to the graphic materials accompanying her exhibitions or that are works in their own right.


This initiative is part of the Touring Exhibitions Programme of the Serralves Collection, which aims to make the Foundation’s collection accessible to different audiences across the country.


Curated by Isabel Braga and Ricardo Nicolau

Production: Fundação de Serralves – Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Porto

serralves.pt desenvolvido por Bondhabits. Agência de marketing digital e desenvolvimento de websites e desenvolvimento de apps mobile