dialogue #01

Adriana Barreto . Diogo Pimentão

Action Sculpture

Curated by Sonia Taborda

Dialogue 01 is the title of the inaugural dialogue of a programme of exhibitions, talks and performances, hosted by Sonia Taborda at dialogue’s gallery space in Marvila, Lisbon. Each dialogue aims to spark conversations about a specific aspect of an artist's work in relation to the work of another invited artist intending to create unexpected bridges between different artistic tools, practices and audiences.

The concept for this dialogue between Adriana Barreto’s and Diogo Pimentão’s work emerged from the evident connection between these artists' practices. Both share an interest in shape, matter, space, and movement, as well as a fascination with earth materials such as paper, graphite, cement, and plaster. Their method of work consists in a series of actions throughout the creative process. Seeking to liberate these actions from the final object they incorporate performance and video into their artistic production.

Adriana Barreto, a Brazilian contemporary artist, boasts a distinguished career in contemporary dance. She studied dance at Martha Graham School and later pursued visual arts at Parsons College of Arts. Diogo Pimentão, a Portuguese contemporary artist based in London, focuses on drawing sculptures, which have gained recognition and are included in renowned public and private collections. Pimentão employs physical movement and performance to inform and complete the process of his creations.

Both Adriana Barreto and Diogo Pimentão have expanded the boundaries of art, particularly in its most debated aspects. By defying the inherent nature of natural materials, they challenge our perception of matter and, ultimately, of reality. Despite being purist and consistent with its craftsmanship, the work has an illusionistic, almost fake quality, achieved by the mechanised perfection of the craft. It creates a masterful balance between permanent and ephemeral structures.

Above all, they both view art as a relationship between the work and its audience. Performance serves as a means to announce and explore this fundamental condition of contemporary art. As Robert Rauschenberg aptly said, "Activity and open curiosity support the muscle of art. The only thing that exists is more, or as John [Cage] would say, just enough."

Adriana Barreto's and Diogo Pimentão's work is best understood not solely in terms of its materiality or plastic quality, but in how it encapsulates the process of its own creation. The finished work cannot be divorced from the process that brought it into being; the object is inseparable from the act itself. This notion expands the boundaries of the work, transforming the artwork into a time-bound artefact of human activity—a trace of action. What results from the manipulation of metal or paper is not a sculpture but an event.

Drawing inspiration from the American art historian and critic Harold Rosenberg that in 1952 called Jackson Pollock's work 'Action Painting', I dare to call the work of Adriana Barreto and Diogo Pimentão ‘Action Sculpture’. This concept serves as the title for the inaugural exhibition of Dialogue 01.

Adriana Barreto's new body of work – which we present for the first time in this exhibition – is the result of the desire to materialise the extension of her own body embracing matter. Her sculptures embody movement and matter, establishing a connection with the object and the human body and the effect another body can have on ours, by proximity and distance. As a dancer, the artist has always been interested in form and movement and in exploring the transformative power that arises from the encounter of the materials with action.

These sculptures represent an external manifestation of Barreto's inner body, achieved through the manipulation of matter. Titled "Cocoon" (Casulo), the series consists of ten works: five larger pieces in graphite grey and five smaller ones in polar white. The organic shapes of these sculptures are the result of the artist's action of embracing and enveloping a single sheet of aluminium net, giving it a three-dimensional presence. The memory of Barreto's continuous interaction with the material is preserved through a delicate layer of exposed plaster, complemented by a coat of graphite pigment in the darker pieces and by a coat of white pigment in the brighter ones. These elements unify and harmonise the distinct shapes of each object that retain the processes of its own making.

The resulting sculptures embody a balance between opposing actions. The initial harsh movement to dominate the bulky linear metallic sheet gradually evolves into a tender one, transforming this bi-dimentional medium into a full-bodied organic shape, through hours of meticulous circular motions during the finishing process. Each piece is unique and establishes a strong and distinct relationship with the ground. From a distance, the graphite works resemble carved and polished basalt stones, while the white ones resemble carved and polished marble stones. Upon closer inspection, our perception of these "bodies'' is challenged by the subtlety of their drawing, apparent in every curve, concavity, and protrusion.

This new body of work references Adriana Barreto's performance piece "Extensions of a Body" from 2013, where the artist explored the body's ability to shape space through movement, establishing a metaphorical connection between the expansion of the body and the expansion of space itself. Performance serves as a source of inspiration for these sculptures, capturing the essence of their form. They represent the tangible outcome of a performance.

While this series title is homonymous to Lygia Clark's Cocoon works from the 1960s, there is no common thread in these works. Barreto's sculptures are named to convey their organic forms and their intimate connection with the ground, effectively capturing the implicit essence of their visual presence. These sculptures possess a cocoon-like nature and a mysterious appearance, akin to a "ghost in a shell," reflecting our connection with natural materials and our instinct to isolate and protect, thereby involving the spectator with the artwork.

In 1998, French art critic Nicolas Bourriaud introduced the theory of "relational aesthetics," positing that a work of art extends beyond its physicality and is greatly influenced by the viewer's experience. Bourriaud asserts that "art is a state of encounter.”1 In this sense, the exhibition space was prepared to receive these works as an experience through discovery and contemplation. Displayed in dialogue with Diogo Pimentão's video Throw, the movement, sound and light of the projection in loop creates an immersive atmosphere in the space that was intentionally lit with low light, to punctually highlight the shapes of each sculpture and accentuate their shadows, metaphorically drawing a parallel between these cocoons and the isolated and introspective nature of the human condition.

Drawing is Diogo Pimentão's primary action. Through the repetitive process of drawing continuous lines with graphite, he adds layers upon layers to the paper, his preferred medium. This transformation alters the nature of the paper's surface, enhancing its structural qualities. Pimentão's action is minimalistic and repetitive, as he recreates an elliptical trajectory with each long line he draws, spanning from one margin to the other end of the sheet. The result is a total solid surface of imperceptible lines, consistently drawn in the same direction. Once the sheet of paper resembles a rigid metallic surface, Pimentão's action evolves into a physically demanding process of meticulous folding repetitions, each fold unique and inherently different.

Pimentão creates his work through continuous linear gestures in space, always standing upright. The artwork establishes a vertical relationship with the surrounding architecture, challenging our perception of the materials used and prompting us to reconsider our relationship with space and scale. The precision and resilience of these works emanates a static condition that plays with concepts such as gravity, lightness and weight.

Pimentão's artistic process demands physical endurance. Achieving the homogeneous, machine-like metallic surfaces requires hours of focused concentration, repetitively executing the same movements with grace and rigour, akin to the discipline of a ballet dancer.

To compensate for the extensive production time imprinted in the materiality of each work, the artist views the ephemeral act of performance as an artwork in its own right. In the exhibition space, as in a parallel dimension, the performance unfolds the work of art, functioning as its negative. The artist exposes his dynamic and choreographed actions to the spectator, deconstructing the movement that embodied these static-looking sculptures. This understanding of the works' production process reconfigures our perception of their materiality, reconnecting them with their lightness and, ultimately, with their origin —the paper.

Presented for the first time, "Throw" (2012) is a video work by Diogo Pimentão. Initially conceived as an accompaniment to his drawings during the production for the CAB Foundation in Brussels, the video ultimately evolved into an independent piece, separate from the drawings. Pimentão explains that the video aims to distance the act of drawing as much as possible from himself, capturing the drawing's flight across the exhibition space, often marked by elements encountered along its path. This video provides insight into the artist's relationship with drawing.

In conclusion, both Adriana Barreto and Diogo Pimentão expand the boundaries of their chosen mediums by interweaving performance and materiality in their artistic practices. Their works challenge our perception of reality and invite us to deeply engage with the physical and ephemeral aspects of contemporary art.

Sonia Taborda Lisbon, May 2023

1. Bourriaud, Nicolas. 'Relational Aesthetics.' Paris: Leses Du Réel, 2002, p.18.