JE VOUS GARDE
PAVILHÃO BRANCO | LISBOA | 2009
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JE VOUS GARDE
Could be the name of this project. It shows people painted in full-body and in real size. Some are closer, others more distant, some are lighter and others darker, all of them hold our gaze. All of them are people who appeared to me and people who have disappeared. I want to see them all in a row, in line, like a family portrait, a shooting line. A line of people who are presented to us, a line of people whom we thank. In different times, some exist more than others. We all disappear, we all appear. They are all naked, without clothes, without artifice. People I saw and who have disappeared. People I saw who have appeared. They are painted in oil on canvas. The canvas is the size of a real life body, which can be unfolded to compose the portrait, around the room, without a privileged view point. They are all privileged. Again, like always in my work, this is also a narrative, a story of sensations, told in one single image in the same place, as if you one could photograph a story. JOANA VILLAVERDE | Lisbon, June 2007 This was the letter I sent to at least twenty people I chose to paint for this work. So they don’t desappear to me. |
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I don’t know why, but when I think about this work, I see it as a tribute to the theatre. To the moment the actors, shed off their characters, look at us, the audience, almost in the eyes and thank us for being there, for watching them work, for watching them act as a character, someone else’s life. This is the moment, that we, as viewers, also expose ourselves, as actors, who watch the same scene. Two scenes, two stages. In the same theatre.
That, dear Joana, is what you say. Our paths have crossed before. And I realise now that your forays into theatre are not to look for characters, but to find people. I’m glad. Your disquiet when designing a set is a sign that you are trying to find something beyond comedy or drama or tragedy in the theatre. You dislike falsehood. You derive pleasure from knowing. And I’m willing to bet that your painting battles against illusion seeking a rougher, more vital and more vehement essence. But you enjoy the interaction and the hiding games, the better to show yourself. Perhaps you prefer someone who hides to someone who you think reveals themselves. My love for theatre is also like that. It’s about constructing disguises in the name of genuinely wanting to connect with other people. So I find your idea of fighting masks by exposing nudity, charming. I’m going to let you in on a secret. Every time I elaborate a fantasy and invent a character behind which to hide, as you would say, if all goes well and I manage to maintain the character to the end, there is always a moment along the way when I feel like appearing naked in one of the scenes: a sign that I have managed to create a character that exists beyond its costume, that the mask does more than cloak the body’s nakedness. Of course, I never give in to the urge. The mask is already made and I can put it on again. But we have no better way than nudity to express genuine exposure to others. Though an actor worth his salt knows that being able to expose oneself is a lot more complicated than it seems. My “nudity”, where visible, is in the fabrication, mine alone, of the mask that I created. That was where I most revealed who I am and what I am like. People are not merely bodies. Only animals are. And even then, I’m not so sure. Contrary to what you might think, the moment the audience applauds is themoment an actor least exposes himself, because he dons a mask not of his creation but one that others have imposed on him and which he uses everyday. That, or the mandatory smile that conceals the entire person. Mentioning this helps to address the subject. We can say about the nature of art as, I know, we both understand it that it: “is laying oneself bare in front of others”. It is, without masks, giving of ourselves to others and showing how we live our lives. But could it be that you won’t let yourself acknowledge that because human beings are complicated, it is only through artifice, and wearing masks that one is able to do that? I think the idea of your “exhibition” of paintings is in the end a mask, a patent and vehement “metaphor” for what, whether it be painting or acting, we want to be doing: living with others. In your case, I think, with no disenchantment. Only desire to get further. Or deeper, painting surfaces. A big hug, Joana, from Luis Miguel [Cintra] May 2009 |
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I don’t know why, but when I think about this work, I see it as a tribute to
the theatre. To the moment the actors, shed off their characters, look at us, the audience, almost in the eyes and thank us for being there, for watching them work, for watching them act as a character, someone else’s life. This is the moment, that we, as viewers, also expose ourselves, as actors, who watch the same scene. Two scenes, two stages. In the same theatre. It is almost like another play, another show, a moment which condenses all emotions at once. This work can represent that moment; it is also a tribute to that moment. These people are real, flesh and blood, I want them to be rid of all artifice, I want them raw, I want them on the same level, and I want them as animals, perishable human beings. I want to preserve them in this moment, alive and in their bodies. I want the pleasure of drawing naked bodies. I want to work in my own recognition of a naked body, the body I am portraying, without it being obvious to viewers. (I don’t care if they are, providing I can recognise them) I want to work with memory, time that has passed and time that will pass, all in a single moment. A moment I wish to preserve. I want to know if the canvas’s background colour will blend into the bodies or if it is the bodies that blend into the background. I want to convey the feeling of time, of iron, the colour of iron, of oxidising materials, the feeling of duration. I want them here, in the present time. To create a dialogue, gathering them together and keep them, remembering them. JOANA VILLAVERDE | Lisbon, March 2008 |