André Gomes and Pedro Calapez. Be it day or night, it matters not

I met them in the early 1980s, and since then we have not lost sight of one another, nor have I lost sight of their works, about which I have written. However, as this is not a biographical memoir, I will say that my point of departure will be the hypothesis that the works of the two artists are a rare example of perfect complementarity. André Gomes speaks of "a duet for cello and piano," but also of divergent parallels, suggesting a form of collaboration that would be the opposite of cadavre-exquis. Let us see.

It is reasonable to assume that André Gomes has always worked exclusively with images, despite the fact we know that the references for these images come from many other arts—theatre, film, music, literature—as well as the so-called visual arts. His works are the laboriously constructed result of a work of composition of pre-existing images. Here we understand the term "images" in its senses more directly related to the notions of "imagery" and "imagination."

It is difficult to suppose that Calapez could fully imagine his paintings—in the case of these paintings in particular, it would be even more difficult—before painting them, even though it seems reasonable that there is a specific intentionality which manifests itself during the process of doing and necessarily—in each particular work—in the decision regarding its conclusion.

There is no image which precedes and anticipates what will be the final result of the process of painting, the final image—the one we see—of the finished work. The image only appears at the end, and it is perhaps wrong to call it an image, because using expressions like "the image of a painting" is problematic. They are paintings. Could they be images?

André Gomes has always moved closer to images, perhaps to feed the illusion that he could move away from them. Calapez has always moved away from images, perhaps to feed the illusion that he could move closer to them.

Excerpt of Alexandre Melo's text "The Twilight of Images," included in the exhibition catalogue.

Guided visits by the artists

June 19 and 27 (Saturday and Sunday), 4:30 p.m.
Limit: 15 pax. Booking required.

Safe Visit

Museu Coleção Berardo received the Clean & Safe Badge, awarded by Tourism of Portugal and the Safe Travels Badge, issued by the World Travel & Tourismo Council.
This Certifications recognizes that the Museum complies with the recommendations of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) to avoid contamination of spaces with SARS-CoV-2 (new coronavirus), allowing a Safe Visit to all our visitors.
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