Restrospective exhibition of António Olé's artistic works at Calouste Gulbenkian Museum, Lisboa - The 25th of September 2016

Not long ago I had writen about this Angolan artist, soon after having watched a video on his life and perspective as an artist in Angola, but I wasn't expecting to be able to see some of his works of Art. He seems to be a very "complete" artist because what we come across at his temporary exhibition  is a whole amount of artistry covering sculpture, artistic collage and instalations, painting, drawing , photography and even filming.

"Though António Olé denies that his works have a political aim, they nonetheless make the misery of his homeland plain." - Ulrich Clewing.

Taking it from Ulrich Clewing's words I'd say it is true that almost every one of his artistic pieces conveys an indirect political message or at least makes us ponder on  freedom and the  slavery times of before and those of nowadays ... but if a certain melancholy perspires in his work it does also exude beauty ... the beauty that many times goes hand in hand with "misery".

The world of writing - 1985 - Mixed technique and cardboard collage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Township Wall - 2004 - Mixed technique, loose found objects, wood, corrugated iron sheets and glass.

The Maculusso Mural - 2014 - Mixed technique and collage on plastic.

Several groups of artistic works pertaining to the series Hiden pages, stolen bodies followed in which quite a few disturbing details caught my attention, such as the fact that next to the images of the inprisoned figures there were copies of official documents stating amongst others  body not claimed - dead - unknown - refused - sent back to the sender - and even the ironic sentence to be seen in a newspaper life is worth living ... 

Hidden pages, stolen bodies - 1996-2001 - Acrylic, pigments, xerox copies, fabric and metal on platex.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whispers - 2007 - Photography mounted on aluminum.

 

 

 

 

 

On the margins of the borderland - 1994-1995 - Installation (iron, bricks, embalmend crows, paper, archive folder pages, tv sets) - National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution.

 

 

 

Remote connections - fragments of a diary - Luanda/Jerusalem/Luanda - 1996 - Mixed technique and collage on cardboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mens Momentanea (II) - 1997-2009 - Iron, glass and bulbs on  burnt plywood; sheets of the scheduled work of slaves all around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Untitled - New York/Luanda - 1993 - Acrylic and pigments on canvas; collage.