Pedro Cabrita Reis

PEDRO CABRITA REIS (Lisbon, Portugal, 1956).
Untitled, 1993.
Mixed media (oil, various pigments and pencil) on Guarro paper.
Presents informative label of the Juana de Aizpuru Gallery.
Signed, dated and located (Lisbon) in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 100 x 70 cm; 129 x 99 cm (frame).
Starting from the most elementary forms such as the circle and the square, Cabrita Reix configures a piece in which geometry, always present in his work, acquires a leading dimension. The expressiveness of the artist's brushstroke that serves as a base for the neatly painted circles and the space of the work that remains blank, marked with pencil by the artist, are elements that provide a great spatial and symbolic depth to the piece. Pedro Cabrita's work is marked by a highly individual philosophical and poetic discourse and encompasses a wide variety of media: painting, sculpture, photography and specific installations created with found and handmade objects. Using simple materials, Pedro Cabrita Reis recycles in his constructions almost anonymous memories of the gestures and actions we repeat every day. His work addresses the issues of space, architecture and memory through metaphors with a suggestive power of association that transcend the merely visual.
Cabrita Reis is a fundamental creator in today's international art scene, a key to understanding sculpture since the mid-1980s, who has been consolidated worldwide especially through his participation in exhibitions such as Documenta IX in Kassel (1992), the Sao Paulo Biennial (1994 and 1998) and the Venice Biennial (1997 and 2003). During his career he never abandoned the practice of painting, that is, the questioning of the tradition of abstract geometric painting which, in recent years, he has revisited in large painting-object installations. He also maintained an assiduous practice of drawing, almost always figurative, with emphasis on self-portraits. However, it was through sculpture and installation that Cabrita Reis achieved, in the early 1990s, full national recognition and wide international acclaim. Cabrita Reis has participated in numerous international exhibitions such as Documenta IX in Kassel in 1992, the São Paulo Biennial in its 22nd (1994) and 24th (1998) editions, or the Aperto of the Venice Biennial in 1997. In 2003 he represented Portugal at the Venice Biennale. Some of his exhibitions since then have been held at: Camden Arts Centre in London, Museo d'Arte Contemporanea in Rome, Fondazione Merz in Turin, Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, Hamburger Kunsthalle in Hamburg, Deposição at the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, Carré D'Art de Nîmes, Museum de Louvain, Fundação Carmona e Costa and Museu Colecção Berardo in Lisbon.