Alexandre Conefrey

Alexandre Conefrey (Lisbon, 1961) completed the Drawing course at Ar.Co between 1993 and 1995, and collaborated with the Royal College of Art (London), within the Exchange Programme of this institution, financed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Since his first solo exhibition, in 1996, at Alda Cortez Gallery, he’s been showing his work regularly both nationally and internationally. Among his various exhibitions, 7 Artistas ao 10º Mês [7 Artists at the 10º Month), at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, in 1996, Os Últimos Dias [The Last Days], at the same institution, in 2000, Guardi, a Arte da Memória [Guardi, the Art of Memory], at Centro Cultural de Belém, in 2003, A Leste do Paraíso [East of Eden], at 111 Gallery, in 2019, and, more recently, Água Pesada [Heavy Water], at the Arpad Szenes – Vieira da Silva Foundation, in 2020. Within a multiplicity of media (from canvas and paper, to ivory, parchment and wood plates, as well as photography) and formats, that he carefully elects to better adjust to the required result, the artist has two central themes in his work: landscape and war. Based on photographic sources or illustrations, and crossing historical, cultural and artistic references, Conefrey builds dynamic fiction universes, whether ancient battles, world wars, or metamorphic landscapes. The colour treatment is a key element, and in most of his compositions it is inspired in the lexicon of pop aesthetics. With drawing, he explores questions that confront the material and spiritual inner world with the material external world. His work is represented in numerous collections, such as the Modern Art Centre of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (Lisbon), the Art Collection of the EDP Foundation (Lisbon), the Benetton Foundation (Italy) and the Carmona e Costa Foundation (Lisbon).

Francisca Morais Vaz