“nós”, nas traves do sótão
Tomaz Borba Vieira

Exhibition

Exhibition

“nós”, nas traves do sótão

Tomaz Borba Vieira

13 mar – 27 jun 2021

Arquipélago – Contemporary Arts Center presents the exhibition by Tomaz Borba Vieira, “nós”, nas traves do sótão.

The set of drawings in watercolour and Indian ink which constitute this exhibition emerged from a recent moment in the life of artist Tomaz Borba Vieira who, during a period of convalescence, developed this body of work looking at the beams on the ceiling of his room.

Horizontal, what Tomaz sees is above him, on the wooden beams, where he begins to see life unfolding. The knots in the wood make figures and he transposes them to paper.

The drawings can seem almost childish, in the playfulness of their lines: anthropomorphic figures, monkeys and mermaids, which live together and relate to one another. There is a community in these ‘knots’ on the artist’s ceiling and he wishes to share it with us.

They are drawings that captivate us: in some of them there are strings or threads which connect the various characters, there are paths that are followed and possibilities of dreams, and there is the construction of a possibility of a journey to the beyond and of whom we wish to accompany us on this path.

Their immense complexity derives from their simplicity.

In a complex moment like this in which many of us have had to stay at home more, in which many of us spend more time in bed, these drawings surely bring up images, thoughts, wanderings and dreams, common to us all, which today we see in the knots on the beams of our attic.

Biographical note

Tomaz Borba Vieira was born in 1938 in Ponta Delgada, São Miguel Island.

He is an artist, educator, writer and cultural agent.

He studied painting at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, mural art at the Florence Academy of Fine Arts, pedagogy at the University of Lisbon and science education (MA) at Boston University.

He has taught at technical, preparatory, secondary and higher education institutions including: ESBAL, the Commercial and Industrial School of Ponta Delgada, António Arroio Decorative Arts School, Roberto Ivens Preparatory School, Antero de Quental Secondary School, the University of the Azores and the Integrated Centre for Teacher Training of the Azores Region (CIFOP/RA).

His artistic career, which began in 1963, has included almost 30 solo exhibitions and participation in approximately 70 group exhibitions.

He has given lectures and published articles on issues relating to art and education, prefaced exhibitions of new artists and presented works by some of the most important Azorean artists on RTP Azores, in 1989.

He organised the exhibition Os Sentidos [Senses], in collaboration with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Azores Government, at the Church of the Jesuit College, in Ponta Delgada, in 1989. He was part of the organising committee of the exhibition A Window on the Azores, as guest curator of Bermuda National Gallery, in 1999.

His publications include: ‘Herdar Estrelas’ [Inheriting Stars] – short story, 2000, with illustrations by Luíz França; ‘Degrau de Pedra’ [Stone Step] – short stories, 2003, with illustrations by Luíz França; ‘O Carcereiro da Vila’ [The Village Jailer] – short stories, 2008, with illustrations by the author; ‘Navegação Interior’ [Interior Navigation] – short stories, 2013, with illustrations by the author; ‘O Lugar da Maçã’ [The Place of the Apple], 2019.

He founded Castelo Cultural Centre in Caloura, São Miguel Island, in 2005.

He was awarded the Autonomic Insignia of Recognition by the Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region of the Azores in 2006.

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