curated by Luca Massimo Barbero
In collaboration with Ambasciata del Portogallo; Instituto Camões;
In partecipation with Ministério da Cultura; Fundação Calouste Gubenkian; Direcção-Geral das Artes
Image: João Louro, dalla serie “Bilnd Images”, collezione dell’artista. © DMF Fotografia Lda. Courtesy Cristina Guerra Contemporary Art, Lisbona
On the second floor of the recently renovated via Reggio Emilia building, a bridge to the Museum’s new wing, is a solo show featuring the Portuguese artist João Louro. It is a world in which nothing is as it seems, a universe where the short-circuit of vision and language creates original expressive pathways.
One of the galleries of the Museum is home to My Dark Places, a solo show featuring the work of Portuguese artist João Louro (born in 1963 in Lisbon), curated by Luca Massimo Barbero. Works never seen before and specifically created for this show will be shown as part of Louro’s Blind Images series. The works are inspired by the seemingly antithetical concepts “fear” and “pleasure,” in addition to The Black Dahlia by James Elroy, and works of the Marquis de Sade. The text in the work, featuring phrases taken from textual sources, and the monochromatic scheme ironically and subtly interact with one another in a way that similar to labels or subtitles. The observer doesn’t find a simple explanation or description in the text, but new suggestions, that open the eyes and mind to different, faraway worlds, filled with philosophical and literary citations. A simple color scheme seems almost to condense its meaning and contain unexpected aspects within the text.