[open the box] João Penalva

João Penalva’s work is made up of poetics that are always taken from an awareness of a definition, an identity; it is a metaphor for a point of view. For this reason his works are often narratives, telling stories that only exist because they emanate from a field of radical subjectivity. So there is no hiatus between the delicate painting of his early career and the works that come from large fictional constructions in order to produce plots in which someone’s identity is defined in relation to someone else – whether this is a cultural other, or an other subjectivity.

Biography
João Penalva was born in Lisbon in 1949. Between 1970 and 1972 he studied ballet at the London Con- temporary Dance School, working with the choreographer Jean Po- marés and, later on, with the Pina Bausch company (1973-1975), in Wuppertal, in Germany. After return- ing to London, Penalva took up academic training as a painter at the Chelsea School of Art, where he studied between 1976 and 1981. Since then he has lived and worked in London. His first solo exhibition was in 1983 at the Galeria Roma e Pavia in Oporto. His extensive career, consolidated over recent years, has highlights in the exhibitions held at the Centro de Arte Moderna – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon, 1990), the Centro Cultural de Belém (Lisbon, 1999), the Camden Arts Centre (London, 2000), among other Portuguese and international institutions. Of equal note are his participations at the São Paulo Biennial (1996), the Berlin Biennial (2001) and the Venice Biennial (2001), as a representative of Portugal.

Bibliography
Brett, Guy (et al.), João Penalva, Milano, Electa, 2001.
João Penalva (cat.), Porto, Fundação de Serralves, 2005.