Sculptures is the second solo exhibition by António Bolota at Galeria Quadrado Azul, after a remarkable intervention in 2010, in which a suspended wall interrupted the circulation through the gallery space. The artist is now proposing a greater attention to the object as sculpture, conceiving two pieces in concrete and steel. Instead of a single mass, there are now two centres which communicate. These are also elements which play with the idea of movement, by the forms they take, by the disposition in space, and by allowing circulation of whom is facing them.
The recurring concerns in the practice of Bolota continue to be present, especially those related to the forces which act upon matter and space, like weight, balance, tension and movement, and to the way of handling them. In the operation of these forces, the artist brings together a knowledge related to the world of architecture and engineering, but also ideas related to the tradition of sculpture. The artist is interested in the tradition inaugurated by artists like August Rodin or Constantin Brancusi, who see the sculpture as weight and as mass, affirming gravity, the force which attracts things to the floor.
Minimalism is also convened in this exhibition and has been a clear reference in the practice of the artist, where we can find some elements like the specificity of the object, the simplicity of the shapes, the brightness, the use of industrial materials, the concern with the surface finishing and with the relation between sculptures and the surrounding space, the floor, and the spectator.
