By Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes
Armanda Duarte's work is site-specific to such a degree that her proposals are actually determined by her observation and analysis of each given space. She observes the characteristics and details of each context in search of the essence which will lead the process of creation up to the work's final reception. Her spatial poetics, which involve drawing, sculpture, installation and architecture, provoke subtle and intimate experiences.
fifth finger (2018) by Armanda DuarteOriginal Source: Collection of the Artist
fifth finger, 2018
Leather (pair of shoes) and black crayon on the floor
10 x 23 x 10 cm
Collection of the Artist
Duarte's stripped down, austere and delicate stagings result from the manipulation and composition of everyday objects such as stones, cutlery or tin can lids according to precise objectives such as measurement, balancing and replication. In her work, objects and simple gestures are subjected to almost scientific processes of repetition and systematisation that imply their conceptualisation, the definition of research criteria, and the normalisation of rigorous collection and editing procedures.
two exhibitions (2010) by Armanda DuarteOriginal Source: Collection Luís Torgal Ferreira, Lisbon
two exhibitions, 2010
Two paper envelopes on MDF shelf
16 x 20,5 x 6 cm (envelopes)
16,6 x 21 x 2,6 cm (shelf)
Collection Luís Torgal Ferreira, Lisbon
Duarte's intense activity ultimately leads to an apparently unproductive, mute, discreet, at times almost imperceptible or even microscopic result, such as the foot and knee marks in saw dust that bear witness, on the ground and far from the public's gaze, to the slow disappearance of an object and the traces of the body that made it disappear.
head, torso and limbsOriginal Source: Collection of the Artist
head, torso and limbs, 2012
Balsa wood strip, sandpaper and small shelf
172 x ø 0,5 cm (balsa strip)
0,5 x 55 x 6,5 cm (shelf)
Collection of the Artist
head, torso and limbsOriginal Source: Collection of the Artist
head, torso and limbsOriginal Source: Collection of the Artist
Learn more about the artist:
Armanda Duarte | Caroline Pagès Gallery (in English)
A Montra, Armanda Duarte (in Portuguese)
O Armário, Armanda Duarte (in Portuguese)
«porto, também no ano da cabra», Armanda Duarte (in Portuguese)
Selection of works presented at the exhibition All I want: Portuguese women artists from 1900 to 2020, in its first moment at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisbon, within the scope of the cultural program that takes place in parallel to the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union 2021.
Exhibition organized by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in co-production with the Center of Contemporary Creation Olivier Debré, Tours, and with the collaboration of the Plano Nacional das Artes (Portugal).
Curators:
Helena de Freitas and Bruno Marchand
Text by Lígia Afonso / Plano Nacional das Artes
Selection of online resources Maria de Brito Matias
Learn more about Armanda Duarte's works presented in the context of this exhibition:
All I want: The Place of the Artist
All I want: The House
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