Pedro Paiva and João Maria Gusmão

PEDRO PAIVA (Lisbon, 1977) & JOÂO MARIA GUSMÂO (Lisbon, 1979).
“Flipping a Fried Egg.” The Hand Speaks series, 2015.
Patinated bronze. Edition 4/4. Patinated bronze. Edition 4/4. (Edition of 4 copies + 2 AP).
Certificate issued by both artists is included.
Signed by both artists.
Measurements: 63 x 88 x 44.5 cm.
The work is part of the “Habla con la mano” series, a collection in which both artists explore the expressive power of gesture and the boundaries between object, body, and language. As in other pieces in the series, the hand ceases to be merely an anatomical feature and becomes a vehicle for thought. Here it is integrated into a recognizable domestic setting, though altered by a poetic and absurd logic that transforms everyday utensils into protagonists of an open-ended and unsettling narrative.
In *Flipping a Fried Egg*, Pedro Paiva and João Maria Gusmão transform a domestic and seemingly trivial action into a scene charged with strangeness, humor, and philosophical reflection. The image evokes the fleeting moment of flipping a fried egg—an everyday action that the artists transform into a sculptural event suspended in time. Formally, the sculpture combines figurative and abstract elements in a dynamic and balanced composition. The frying pan serves as both a base and a stage, while the ascending form introduces a sense of frozen movement. The organic modeling of the surfaces and the dark finish of the bronze lend the piece an almost totemic presence, elevating it beyond mere anecdotal representation. The apparent simplicity of the elements conceals a complex reflection on perception and on the capacity of objects to acquire new identities when removed from their usual function.
Gusmão and Paiva’s artistic practice has been characterized by the creation of visual situations where science, fiction, myth, and everyday experience converge within a single conceptual space. Their works function as perceptual experiments that challenge our trust in rational logic and reveal the existence of alternative realities contained within the most ordinary gestures. In *Flipping a Fried Egg*, a culinary action becomes a metaphor for transformation, for a change of state, and for the instability of what we consider familiar.