Lisbon Art Weekend is already part of the annual art calendar in Lisbon; this year, our 100 Collectors' members were invited to join the exciting event. It gathered more than 30 art spaces around exhibition openings, talks, shows, and cocktails between November 9th and 12th. Also, it offered a handful of guided tours, which were mediated by our colleague, Julia Flamingo and her project, Bigorna. The 100 collectors' members were invited to join and visit four different galleries in the neighborhood of Estrela in Lisbon.
Starting with the solo exhibition by Annette Barcelos at Galeria Madragoa, we had the opportunity to listen to Portuguese curator Filipa Oliveira talking about the paintings of the Swiss artist, rather unexposed till this moment. The curator created parallels between her and Portuguese artist Paula Rego, who also creates storytelling around femininity, motherhood, and women's roles in a patriarchal society.
The group then walked towards Jahn und Jahn, the originally German gallery that opened a space in Lisbon a bit longer than a year ago. In different rooms of the beautiful house, a small traditional Portuguese mansion, visitors could see sculptures and installations made by two artists, and friends: the Portuguese Rui Chafes and the German Olaf Metzel.
The third gallery of the day, 3+1 Arte Contemporânea, showcased a solo show by Argentinian artist Juan Tessi. The artist presented two types of works: abstract paintings and a more symbolic series of paintings influenced by pre-Hispanic drawings and aesthetics.
The last gallery was Monitor, which originally comes from Italy. Titled The Animal and the Clothes, the solo show by Portuguese artist Daniel V. Melim was based on how ancestral processes and presences can nourish our life and challenges today. He made paintings on glass, highlighting landscapes and star nights of Madeira island, where he was born and raised.
Melim believes in the magical function of art and discusses ancestrality, history, nature, and cosmology as he represents the dimension of the universe and how humble human beings should be in relation to it. What a beautiful way to end the tour!