Vasco Araújo

VASCO ARAÚJO (Lisbon, 1975)
"Diva a Portrait, 2000.
Black and white photography.
Provenance: Filomena Soares Gallery, Lisbon.
Exhibitions: ARCO, 2001.
Measurements: 60 x 50 cm, 73,5 x 63,5 cm (frame).

"Diva a Portrait" belongs to an early stage of Vasco Araújo's career, in which some of the fundamental axes of his later work already appear: the construction of identity, theatricality, the body, gender and the codes of scenic representation. The photograph shows a figure of strong dramatic presence, isolated on a black background and characterized through costume, makeup and gesture as an ambiguous presence between portrait, character and performance.

The contrast of black and white accentuates the visual tension between the skin, the light shirt, the dark and shiny fabric that wraps the body and the vegetal crown that refers to the classical or ritual imaginary. The direct gaze, between defiant and vulnerable, reinforces the performative character of the image: it is not a conventional portrait, but a staging of identity as a cultural and theatrical construction.

Vasco Araújo held his first solo exhibition at Galeria César (2002), currently Galeria Filomena Soares, in Lisbon, and in 2003 he received the Prémio EDP Novos Artistas, one of the most relevant awards for emerging artists in Portugal. Since then he has developed an international career, with solo exhibitions in institutions such as Museu de Serralves in Porto, S.M.A.K. in Ghent, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, Boston Center for the Arts and Jeu de Paume in Paris.

His work is part of collections such as the Centre Pompidou, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Fundação de Serralves, Fundação PLMJ, Museo Reina Sofía and Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, among others.