Initiating his artistic path through drawing, Pedro Calapez (Lisbon, 1953) affirmed himself as a painter in the early 1980s, constructing a body of work that combines both practices in space and time. The exhibition Pedro Calapez. From This Space of Light and Darkness, conceived specifically for the Museu de Aveiro / Santa Joana, brings together a selection of works from the Serralves Collection, the Collection of the Municipality of Aveiro and the artist’s Collection underlining the complementary relationship between painting and drawing that grounds his artistic practice.

Famous for its expert use of scale and colour, the work of Pedro Calapez is established between abstraction and the representation of places suspended somewhere between the sketch, the scene, and ruin. The human figure is invariably absent from the figurative work, making way for the presence of the spectator, who moves freely between the exhibition space and the inner space of the work.

Including works never shown before, the exhibition moves away from the universe of colour to reveal other foundational aspects of Calapez’ practice, rooted in dialogues established with art history, literature, and architecture. Historical works representative of different periods of his artistic career are presented together with recent works that highlight lines of continuity in his practice over more than 40 years. The works presented here emerge 'from this space of light and darkness' that punctuates the artist’s palimpsestic path, forever incomplete and forever in motion.

The exhibition, curated by Joana Valsassina, 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.

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