Access the exhibtion essay by Adriana Francisco here.
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“An eternal beginning permanently interrupted by my awareness of beginning”
Clarice Lispector, A Breath of Life
Plumule – the sinuous, lulling title of Henrique Oliveira’s first UK solo show – is a botanical term referring to the tiny rudimentary shoot of a plant embryo: its first true leaves. To our eyes, the plumule may look like a beginning but, in truth, it is nothing more than a point in the continuous cycle of life.
Best known for his immersive, cavernous large-scale installations made from discarded materials found on construction sites, such as plywood boards, metal and foam, Oliveira will be showcasing a selection of his most recent body of work, including a site-specific installation, as well as drawings, sculptures, wall-reliefs and unfolded paintings.
Positioning his practice between the categories of painting, sculpture and architecture, Oliveira is interested in “acting under the skin of the real”, producing artworks that rely on an eerie organic materiality as a way of boldly challenging the division between the natural and the human-made, laying bare the inevitable cyclical continuity of all terrestrial matter.
Henrique Oliveira (b. 1973, Ourinhos, Brazil) has a BFA in Painting (2004) and an MA in Visual Poetics (2007), both from University of São Paulo. He lives and works in London. His most recent solo exhibitions include Small Abstractions (2022), at the Galerie Georges-Philippe & Nathalie Valloirs, Paris, France; Programa de Exposições (invited artist) (2018), at Centro Cultural São Paulo, Brazil; the IX Enku Grand Award (2018), at the Gifu Museum of Fine Arts, Japan; and Devir (2017), at the Van de Weghe Gallery, New York, USA. Recent group shows include La Forêt Magique (2022) at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille, France; 2021 Above Us Only Sky - NITJA Center for Contemporary Art, Lillestrom, Norway. Oliveira’s work has also featured in a number of biennales such as São Paulo Bienal, Brazil; XIII Cuenca Biennial, Ecuador; Bruges Triennale, Belgium; and Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo. His work can be found in the collection of several institutions and museums, including: VMFA Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, USA; Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia; Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar, Netherlands; Centro per L’Arte Contemporanea Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy; and Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil; amongst many others.
