CRISTINA ATAÍDE – A Particular Place
We have the pleasure to exhibit A Particular Place by Cristina Ataíde.
Press Release
The River inside my drawing
…In the afternoon, I hired a boat, the usual one, but only with a boatman, without the ominous guide, and I went to the middle of the river. I had thought of wetting the leaves in the water of the Ganges, placing bindi (red powder) in longitudinal lines, in the middle of the sheet, putting them to dry in the middle of the steps, waiting for people to tread on them. The drawing would be those footsteps, the memory, the drawing of those footsteps. My observations of that morning had alerted me: maybe I would not be welcome; maybe I was desecrating something sacred to them. Why mess with their symbols in such a frivolous way? Without a deep knowledge of their beliefs, I could not use them. So, I resolved to draw with the River.
When I put the sheets in the water, they were returned to me with thousands of miniscule forms that made the lightest lace all over the paper. The whole masses of memories that sail on it, were retained on the sheet creating a really rich pattern. While it dried, I scattered pigment on the paper and allowed the breeze from the river to work on it, creating new designs. I pressed the powder and, to dry, I held the drawings between my fingers, letting them flutter, drying them as I had seen the people washing clothes do.
They are the piece of the river that I brought with me. The River inside my drawings.
Cristina Ataide
Varanasi, India, 17.1.2004
Biography
CRISTINA ATAÍDE (1951)
Lives and works in Lisbon.
She is graduated in fine arts at Lisbon Fine Art School (Sculpture) and she attended Design Studies in the same art school.
Head of the Sculpture and Design’s department in MadeIn, a Portuguese marble production company, between 1987 and 1996. She worked with relevant international artists such as Anish Kapoor, Keith Sonnier, Matt Mullican, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Sergio Camargo.
First solo show, PENUMBRAS, took place in 1988 at Galeria Diferença, Lisbon.
Followed by (selected shows) 1992- MECANOPLASTIAS, Fluxus Gallery, Oporto; 1994 – OPOSIÇÕES, Graça Fonseca Gallery, Lisbon and Fernando Santos Gallery, Oporto; 1995- ALGUNS PECADOS E UMA VIRTUDE (Some Sins and a Virtue), Museum of S. Martinho de Tibães Monastery, Braga; 2001- ANATOMIA DO SENTIMENTO (feeling’s anatomy), with Paulo Cunha e Silva, André Viana Gallery, OPorto; 2003- (IM)PERMANÊNCIAS, LUÍS SERPA Gallery, Lisbon; 2005 – DEPOIS TB FLORESCEM (after they bloom), Pavilhão Branco, City Museum, Lisbon; 2008- MANUAL DE INSTRUÇÕES (Instructions manual), Carlos Carvalho Gallery– Zoom, Lisboa; 2009- (IM)PERMANÊNCIAS II, Museum of Contemporary Art, Elvas, Paiol; WALK WITH ME, Galeria Magda Bellotti, Madrid; 2010- SUSPENDER O AR, Casa da Cerca, Almada; 2011- FRAMES AND SEES, SESC, Caruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil; 2012- ITINERÁRIO DA MENTE PARA A LUZ (d’aprés São Boaventura) with José Rufino (BR), S. Bento Monastery, São Paulo, Brazil; LA MONTAÑA MÁGICA/ DER ZAUBERBERG, Magda Bellotti Gallery, Madrid; LAR, DOCE LAR…/ Home Swith Home… site-specific, Carpe Diem, Arte e Pesquisa, Lisbon; 2013 – DESLOCAMENTO(S), with Isaque Pinheiro, Cultural Center Fiep, Curitiba, Brazil; TERRA DE FOGO/ LAND OF FIRE, residency, ZeroPoint Art Gallery, Mindelo, Cap Verde; MULTIPLOS, Carpe Diem Editions, Just Mad 4, Madrid
Represented in the following collections:
CAM Collection, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Culturgest, Caixa Geral de Depósitos Collection, Lisbon. BES, Collection, Lisbon; António Cachola Collection, Elvas; PLMJ Foundation, Lisbon; Casa da Cerca Collection, Almada; Unión Fenosa Museum, La Coruña; Açores Lisboa Hotel, Bensaude Group, Lisbon; City Museum, Lisbon.
Her work has been presented in several internationals art fairs such as Lisbon, Madrid, Santander, London, Tokyo and Bogotá.
She got grants from Luso American Development Foundation in 1986, 1988 and 1997; Orient Foundation in 1998 and 2003; Special Project Subsidy, Secretary of State for Culture in 1991; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Subsidy in 1994, 1995, 1998 and 2005.