Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel is pleased to present a new solo show by Nuno Ramos. Brujas [Witches] takes a single gesture repeated over and over again as the central element in works that conceptually merge drawing and monotype printing. The exhibition includes 25 pieces made from charcoal, pigment, graphite, and oil paint on paper, which occupy the space sequentially, as though in a portrait gallery.
The intensity of gesture felt in chromatic compositions, luminosity, and cadence defines the personality of each figure and of its subgroups. Gradual passages make the installation of the works a carefully orchestrated group. The practice of monotype printing is at the heart of the process, but Ramos draws on the back of the paper. The surface as if bruised by drawing and the accumulation of matter. The powder interacts and negotiates its space within the paper pores, determining the final result seemingly without the artist’s control. “The surface of the country is totally taken by fatuous, crazy, insane, lying, violent discursiveness, and it seems that we have to go through this layer and find a porosity that allows us to get to something truer, more loving, more interesting”, says the artist.
Witches — here in the Spanish Brujas — references Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, who used images of witches as a form of contemporary social critique. In paintings and engravings from the end of the 18th century, his works represent witchcraft – from the Inquisition onwards – as a permanent reminder of the dangers and evils of extreme religiosity. In the words of Nuno Ramos: “it is an evocation and a summoning of a power that is not expendable right now. It’s as if we needed the strength to react and fight back against what is happening”. The works in the show deal with uncertainties and an undeniable need for change.
The exhibition is accompanied by a critical text by researcher, lecturer and curator Diego Matos.
Nuno Ramos was born in São Paulo in 1960, where he lives and works. Recent solo exhibitions include: Extinction is Forever, Sesc São Paulo (São Paulo, 2021); Sol a pino, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel (São Paulo, 2019); O Direito à Preguiça, CCBB (Belo Horizonte, 2016); O Globo da Morte de Tudo, in partnership with Eduardo Climachauska, SESC Pompéia (São Paulo, 2016); HOUYHNHNMS, Estação Pinacoteca (São Paulo, 2015); Ensaio Sobre a Dádiva, Iberê Camargo Foundation (Porto Alegre, 2014); Anjo e Boneco, Oscar Niemeyer Museum (Curitiba, 2013); Fruto Estranho, MAM Rio (Rio de Janeiro, 2010). His participation in the Bienal de São Paulo (2010, 1994, 1989 and 1985) and in the Venice Biennale (1995) are also noteworthy.
In 2019 publishing house Todavia released “Verifique se o mesmo”, a new compilation that brings together texts written between 2008-2017, some already published in newspapers and magazines, others unpublished. His book, “Junco”, released in 2011 by the publishing house Iluminuras, won the Portugal Telecom Literature Award in the Poetry category. In 2008, he won the Portugal Telecom Award for best book of the year with “Ó”, also published by Iluminuras.
