João Gusmão & Paiva

João Maria Gusmão and Pedro Paiva were born in Lisbon, in 1979 and 1978 respectively. From 2001, they started a collaboration as an artistic duo, giving body to work that includes film, sculpture, installations with short movies of 16mm and 35mm. The main characteristic of their work is the fascination with what escapes comprehension, questioning the value of rationality. The works portray staged episodes and pseudo-scientific experiments with a poetic and comical/ironic ambience. In the last years, the production of Gusmão and Paiva focused on the idea of movement and duration, in a broad sensorial experience. They participated in various international biennials, like the 27^th São Paulo Biennial, Brazil, in 2006, the 6^th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 2007, Manifesta 7, Italy, 2008, they represented Portugal at the 53^rd Venice Biennale, 2009, 8^thGwangiu Biennial, South Korea, 2010 and the central exhibition of the 55^th Venice Biennale, the Palácio Enciclopédico, Italy, in 2013. As a duo, they have shown their work regularly, some of the main solo exhibitions were Papagaio [Parrot], Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy, 2014, The Missing Hippopotamus, Kky Kolnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany, 2015, Capsule 05 / João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva: Peacock, Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, 2016, Animais que ao longe parecem moscas, Oliva Art Centre, São João da Madeira, Portugal, 2017, Lua Cão [Dog Moon] (with Alexandre Estrela), La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain and  Kunstverein München, in Munich, Germany, both in 2018, A Pele do Fantasma [The Ghost’s Skin], RIALTO, Lisbon, 2019. More recently, in 2021, they presented at the Serralves Museum, Oporto, the retrospective exhibition Terçolho [Sty], which included works made throughout almost two decades. The following group exhibitions should be mentioned: Sobreposições, Contemporary Art National Museum, Lisbon, 2007, Leopards in the Temple, Sculptur Center, New York, USA, 2010, Natureza Morta [Still Life], Inhotim, Brumadinho, Brazil, 2013, Like a Moth to a Flame, Fondazione Sandretto Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy, 2017, Flora, Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar, Lisbon, 2021.

They ended their collaboration in 2019 and presently work solo. The work of Gusmão e Paiva is represented in various private and institutional collections, in Portugal and abroad.

 

CQ, August 2022