MIGUEL BRANCO

Portugal, 1963

PEDRO CERA

The practice of Miguel Branco (1963) is closely tied to the medium of painting and sculpture. Although at first encounter, seemingly classical in form, the roots of Miguel Branco’s practice are in fact, closely tied to the postmodern, namely to principles of appropriation and of displacement. His paintings and drawings frequently feature animal motives, borrowed from old atlases and historical scientific books. The animal is removed from its natural habitat and placed in a human environment or situation. Escaping any sense of narrativity, Branco’s approach is based on decontextualization, rather than on providing the animal with human attributes. The animal then becomes distinctive for its apathic behavior and lack of expression, a direct result of its misplacement. Depicted as the Other, Branco’s new works becomes an ironic commentary on the widening gap between nature and the human, who has, over the course of the past three centuries, gradually removed himself from nature in search of his/her own superiority.