Madragoa is happy to present at Artissima, Booth 5 - Hall White, a dialogue between works by Belén Uriel (Madrid, 1974, lives and works in Lisbon) and Luís Lázaro Matos (Évora, 1987, lives and works in Lisbon and Brussels), as well as new works by Yuli Yamagata (São Paulo, 1989, lives and works in São Paulo) in the project Artissima XYZ.

Belén Uriel’s art practice is centered on household objects and how the way we interrelate with them can condition our social habits. She concentrates on the sculptural qualities of materials, such as glass and metal, in the rendering of organic shapes that are originated by the design of objects that would accommodate, sustain or have a relation with the human body. These elements, rearranged by the artist, seem to transform into anatomical parts themselves, partially reconstructing and going back the bodies that indirectly inspired their form.

In Quechuas five glass profiles of a common rucksack, seen from the side, hang from a metal structure built according to the proportions of the human body; they are placed at different heights, simulating the different positions an actual rucksack can assume in the space in relation to the body that wears and uses it. With its circular display, the sculpture replicates the torsion, the rotational movement implicit in the gesture of taking the rucksack off the shoulders, visualising it in a sequence of five freeze-frames. Even if the glass faithfully reproduces the object, the fragmentary nature of the pieces prevents viewers from instant identification, except for a few clues, such as pockets and seams; their organic and hollow form rather evokes that of carapaces, shells, lungs, or empty cocoons.

Apparently lighthearted and playful, Luís Lázaro Matos’ works actually investigate complex dynamics dealing with current social and philosophical constructions shaping contemporary forms of narrative. In his lush and colourful graphic figurations humor and drama coexist, opening up discourses which allude to both intimate and social dynamics, often dealing with identity politics and queerness. As metaphorical portraits of today’s communal aesthetic, imbued with his personal experiences as a digital native, Luís Lázaro Matos’ works reveal shared emotional images.

The works The Waves of Lisbon I, II  and Laika Surfing Cosmic Waves I, II  have been part of the solo show Waves and Whirlpools presented in 2020 at Galeria Municipal do Porto in Oporto. They are two of the seven diptychs that the artist created for the show, all inspired by seven recently released songs composed by the artist himself, and convey references to the mythology of the sea. In the exhibition, Matos depicted intriguing surroundings of dark blue waves and smiling cartoonish palm trees, haunted by fantastic marine creatures, such as sea turtles, manta rays, octopuses, whales, but also birds and an Astronaut dog named Laika. The iconography he displays might recall the imaginary realism of Portuguese artist, Paula Rego, whose interpretation of fairytales grew into an important source of inspiration for his approach.

For Artissima XYZ, Yuli Yamagata created a new series of joyful, humorous, and vividly colorful sculptures and wall-based textile works. These theatrical pieces mainly feature or seem to refer to body parts, particularly faces, legs, lips, and fingers, which call into question concepts of taste, consumerism, and self-image. Yamagata blends surrealist imagery seamlessly with pop culture, playing with dimensions and shapes to create dysmorphic, sometimes comically absurd, objects and creatures that convey a familiar strangeness. Or a strange familiarity.