ALBERTO CARNEIRO

“Nature in motion” is Alberto Carneiro’s first solo exhibition (1937-2017) at the International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture. The exhibition is based on the Alberto Carneiro’s artistic collection belonging to Catarina Rosendo, which is in deposit in the Municipality of Santo Tirso and presents a set of works that cover almost all of the more than five decades of work by this essential artist of the Portuguese art from the 20^th-21^st centuries. The selected works, among which some of the most iconic of his career, provide a panoramic view that highlights the importance of drawing and photography in the Alberto Carneiro’s artistic production, alongside sculpture and installation.

The variety of media used by the artist over the years has supported a thematic and visual universe based on the landscape and the relationship between the body and nature, a situation that this exhibition explores, namely through the vegetal and abstract motifs that define the sculpture and drawings from the early years, through the performances carried out in landscape and rural environments that gave rise to the photographic series of the 1970s, through the search for the vital flows of natural materials that characterize the sculptures of the 1990-2010s and through the imaginary prospecting of a body in an intimate dwelling of the land that is present in all his graphic production.

Author of a work that combined, like few others, the exploration of visual forms with a philosophical quest about landscape, nature and the ways in which humans relate to the world, Alberto Carneiro has long been connected to the Municipality of Santo Tirso. He was responsible for the creation of the International Contemporary Sculpture Symposiums that gave rise to the International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, where the exhibition “Nature in Motion” takes place. The exhibition is curated by Catarina Rosendo and includes the publication of a monograph with essays by the artists Isabel Carvalho and Rui Chafes.

Alberto Carneiro (Coronado, 1937 – Porto, 2017) was an important sculptor and one of the most awarded artists of his generation. He studied Sculpture at the School of Fine Arts (Porto) and at Saint Martin’s School of Art (London), after working in the Coronado’s saint-making workshops for eleven years. His work is characterized by an approach to the landscape and natural elements and by a relationship with the sculptural material of an ontological character and identification/identity of his own body with natural materials. His teaching career influenced several generations of artists and architects. He taught in the Sculpture Course at the School of Fine Arts (1971-1976) and in the Architecture Graduation at the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Porto (1970-1999), and was responsible for the pedagogical and artistic guidance of the Plastic Arts Circle, an Autonomous Organism of the University of Coimbra (1972-1985). Among the distinctions awarded to him are the National Prize for Sculpture (1968), the National Prize for Plastic Arts (1985) and the Grand Official Commendations of the Order of Infante D. Henrique (1994). He created the International Museum of Contemporary Sculpture of Santo Tirso and the International Contemporary Sculpture Park of Carrazeda de Ansiães (2002-2009). His retrospective exhibitions include: Bragança Contemporary Art Center (2012); Beulas Foundation, Huesca (2006); Funchal Contemporary Art Museum (2003); Galician Contemporary Art Center, Santiago de Compostela (2001); Serralves Foundation, Porto (1991); Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (1991); CAC of the Soares dos Reis Museum, Porto (1976). He represented Portugal at the Paris (1969), Venice (1976) and São Paulo (1977) Biennales. He produced public sculptures in Portugal, Slovenia, England, Ireland, South Korea, Equator, Formosa Island (Taiwan), Andorra, Spain and Chile. His works are part of important national public collections such as: Serralves Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, MNAC – Chiado Museum; Berardo Collection; Culturgest Foundation; State Contemporary Arte Collection; and Casa da Cerca – Contemporary Art Center. Of the various foreign collections, some stand out alongside several private collections: Museo Vostell Malpartida (Malpartida de Cáceres, Spain); Gallician Contemporary Art Center (Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and Frederick R. Weisman Art Foundation (Los Angeles, USA).