Pires Vieira

The artist's first solo exhibition at the Carlos Carvalho gallery is comprised of his two most recent series of works.

Since the early 1970s, Pires Vieira (Porto, 1950) has been building a solid and coherent path of work that moves around the questioning of painting and the expansion of its supports and contents. Common to his various series of works is the challenge to the viewer and the desire to subvert and disturb established norms and conventions by broadening and questioning the pictorial field. That is why he develops his work not only in the traditional format of painting, but also through sculpture and installation.

In the two new series, Geometries III and IV, presented in this exhibition, Pires Vieira superimposes planes on planes, sometimes referring to classic paintings from the history of art, in a markedly expressionist interest. The artist chooses to create a sensorial tension with the viewer through the choice of material characterized by a compact surface with a solid texture. While in Geometries III this presence of superimposition reveals an inquiry into the visible, in a game of movement, in Geometries IV he foresees a concealment of planes that seems to show, at a first glance, an objective, rational composition, with orthogonal planes and an almost a single abstract shape. These pieces compose a timeline, works that are closed to the public because they are hidden in a saturation of color and density of matter. In all of them, the repetition of records, although with minimal changes, remains the artist's working practice that is the mark of his will for continuous and persistent research.

Among the approximately 45 solo exhibitions he has held, the highlights are 'Trash - Artist's Trash', at Museu Coleção-Berardo, 2019, 'Pires Vieira Antológica', from painting to painting, at MNAC - Chiado and Fundação Carmona e Costa, 'Faites vos jeux, Rien va Plus' at Sala do Veado at MNHN, 'Like a Painting - Up Close... It is a Big Mess', at Appleton Square, in Lisbon; 'Pires Vieira', at the White Pavilion of the City Museum; 'Talk to Me', at CAM-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 'Geometries' at Fundação Museu das Comunicações. Refering to his group shows we have to distinguish 'Stories: Works from the Serralves Collection', Serralves Museum; 'Permanent Exhibition (1969/2010)', Berardo Museum, CCB; 'One Path, Two Directions', at MNAC/CHiado; 'Language and Experience', at the Palácio do Egipto Cultural Centre, at the Grão Vasco Museum and at the Aveiro Museum; 'Alternativa Zero', at the National Gallery of Modern Art, organized by Ernesto de Sousa. He is represented in numerous collections such as: CAM-Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, MNAC/Chiado, Culturgest/CGD, Colecção/Museu Berardo, Fundação/Museu de Serralves.

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