PEDRO CABRITA REIS
Portugal, 1956
He lives and works in Lisboa. He is one of today’s most famous portuguese artists. His work has been shown in well established international shows, such as the 9th Kassel Documenta and the 24th São Paulo Bienale. In 2003, he represented Portugal at the Venice Bienale.
The complex work of Cabrita includes a multiplicity of means, from drawings using graffiti and pastel, to large scale painting and arquitectural dimensioned installations. The flux between the used materials nevertheless maintains each’s own character.
Sculptures become images; when attached to windows, monochromatic articulated paintings lead to arquitectural elements or develop sculptural qualities. Photographs which appear in the instalations open never-ending spaces for memory and reflection. Nature appears in his work in an extremely filtred way, as a road to consciousness. The loss of nature as a reference idea is the engine of Cabrita Reis’ work. The artist sees architecture as replacing it and understands it as a mental discipline or a “reality exercise”through which we measure ourselves and the world. This requires a very high precision.