Fábio Colaço at ADN Galeria / Barcelona

Daily Lazy

Fábio Colaço is a young Portuguese artist who presents his first solo exhibition at ADN Galeria: YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW. The exhibition is a critical reflection on the current socioeconomic state through a series of allegories that mix cultural references. These are also organized in an exhibition route that fictionalizes the symbolic structure of a house.

The result is an exhibition that describes a dystopian reality, an intricate network of associations that reflect different readings of our time and different historical episodes. In Untitled (1984), for example, we find George Orwell’s book 1984 rolled up in the form of a monocle and arranged at the level of our eyes, turning it into an instrument of surveillance. A materialization of the “Big Brother” described in the same book.

Colaço’s works transcend the traditional boundaries of sculpture, his main area of artistic training. He uses alternative materials and devices, adapting each technique to different investigations. A good example of this is Faust (2024), an object piece made of a pair of shoes and a stack of euro cent coins. The absence of the body absorbed by that pile of low-value coins shows that the character alluded in the title has sold his soul in exchange for being left without power, health, or glory.

Thus, the subversive nature of the works and also their irony, creates allegories that facilitate new interpretations by the viewer. In each title there is an analysis of certain social traumas typical of nowadays, where our economic system takes center stage. In this sense, the element that integrates several works as raw material shaped by the artist is especially relevant: money.

As we have seen, in this exhibition apparently familiar and banal images and objects are appropriated, metamorphosed and recontextualised. In Untitled (timeline) (2024) we see a wall clock where numbers are replaced by words that allude to certain ordinary, often unnoticed, moments in our daily routines. A metaphor for how time is used, emphasizing the banality that fills it.

In short, Colaço expresses a rebellion against museologically consecrated forms, challenging the way in which we perceive power. YESTERDAY, TODAY, TOMORROW is the opportunity to discover for the first time in Barcelona the pertinent and poignant work of an artist whose pieces are already recognized and that are part of several collections in Portugal.

December 27, 2024
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