Rui Sanches: Mirror

The survey exhibition of Rui Sanches’ drawings at Museu Coleção Berardo is part of a broader programme: "Rui Sanches: Mirror", which also takes place almost simultaneously at Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional. Encompassing four decades of predominantly two-dimensional work, this part of the exhibition focuses on the artist's drawing, and is displayed almost without exception on the wall, above ground level, in contrast to his sculpture—the part of his work exhibited at Torreão Nascente da Cordoaria Nacional, curated there by Delfim Sardo.
This drawing survey presents series of recent works in which the artist combines supports, media, and techniques: drawing on paper, photography, clay sketches, and wall constructions in a range of materials. This plurality of approaches allows us to see how the artist moves between these without drawing becoming subsidiary to sculpture, or vice versa. Putting into play multiple references, namely from history of art, the set of works reveals a philosophy that comes off the plane to invade the space, and that simultaneously, in an inverse movement, returns to the surface of the paper as if tearing up its two-dimensionality, perforating it and creating depth.
The intention was not to adopt a retrospective or chronological approach to his work in drawing. We sought to highlight motifs and aspects that reappear at different times, and to give preference to lesser known, perhaps even unseen groups of works, like the series "Mar" (2015) and "Reflexos na Água" (2014)—which fit perfectly with the exhibition title, as they involve a kind of "mirror mechanism" in their creation.
We could say that Rui Sanches' drawings seem to pierce through the paper sheet, to break away from the medium, to overstep its margins, as though they extended through space. They have acquired a liquid quality, hence testing the spectator’s resistance to their immateriality, their impotence, their near-nothingness.

Curated by Sara Antónia Matos

Rui Sanches. Espelho
10/10/2019 - 12/01/2020
Museu Coleção Berardo - Lisboa