QUEST 21: Paula Rego - new etchings 2009

Deze maand opent in Cascais (Lissabon) het museum “House of Stories, Paula Rego”.Deze Portugees Britse, door Robert Hughes de belangrijkst levende vrouwelijke artieste genoemd, stelt van 9 oktober tot 19 december tentoon in galerie Quest 21 Stalingradlaan 21 te Brussel.In haar narratieve werk onderzoekt Rego gegevens als macht, seksualiteit, het omverwerpen van sociale codes. Ze ontmaskert “half things”: bedrog, liegen, ‘half-sins’, de mediocriteit. Haar werk getuigt van een uitgesproken feminisme.Niettegenstaande tentoonstellingen in Tate Britain (2005) , Tate Liverpool, Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian Lisabon, Het Reina Sofia in Madrid enz is Paula Rego in België nog vrij onbekend. De tentoonstelling in Brussel hoopt deze leemte op te vullen.

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Au courant de ce mois de septembre, un nouveau musée ouvre ces portes à Cascais (Lisbonne): ‘ House of stories, Paula Rego’. Le critique d’art Robert Hughes dit de cette artiste Britannique née au Portugal qu’elle est l’artiste féminine contemporaine la plus importante. Une exposition de Paula Rego aura lieu à Bruxelles du 9 octobre au 19 décembre à la galerie Quest 21 au 21 avenue de Stalingrad.Dans ces oeuvres narratives elle explore des thèmes comme la sexualité, le pouvoir, le bouleversement des codes sociaux. Elle dévoile le mensonge, les demi-péchés, la tromperie, la médiocrité. Son oeuvre est caractérisé par un féminisme prononcé. Artiste internationale avec des expositions au Tate Britain (2005), Tate Liverpool, Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian Lisbonne et à La Reina Sofia à Madrid elle est encore peu connue en Belgique. L’exposition à Brux elles est donc une occasion pour explorer l’oeuvre de Paula Rego .

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QUEST 21 is pleased to introduce a new series of etchings by Paula Rego. With solo exhibitions in the Tate Britain and the Reina Sofia Madrid and now opening a museum - dedicated to her life and work - in Portugal, Paula Rego is considered to be one of the most important contemporary artists. Her work is in collections of the Tate, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Museum, the British Museum,etc. From 9 October untill 19 December QUEST 21 shows a selection of new etchings and hand coloured graphical works. The images often refer to worldliterature and remind us of the humour and uncanny imagination of an old master like Goya. It is no surprise that Rego feels herself closely affiliated to theatre and the written word. In the past she edited series based on novels like Jane Eyre and also in her extraordinary way of working – first she creates these huge settings in her London based studio after which she paints or draws them - she reminds us of a theatre director.Allthough we are confronted with her world, dreams or fantasies – Rego also takes a very clear political or social stance. The position of women in contemporary society is for example a returning theme.

Paula Rego (b.1935)

Paula Rego established an early reputation with her surreal collages, later populated with subversive cartoon-like animals. In 1988, a retrospective at the Serpentine Gallery in London confirmed her international reputation. A powerful original female voice, she is now one of Europe's most sought after artists. A painter of 'stories', her characters enact a variety of roles and depict disquieting tensions below the surface. Her most recent work, large pastel paintings and sharply drawn etchings, express an extraordinary range of emotions and experiences. A recent publication by John McEwen entitled Behind the Scenes offers an interesting new approach to Paula's work through the studio and the models installations that she uses. Last year, Jake Auerbach, spent months interviewing and filming Rego for a profile piece called ' Telling Tales ' 1 . At 74, Rego is widely regarded as one of the world's great figurative artists, firmly established after decades of anonymity. Her work – paintings, pastel drawings, prints – is valued in the millions and a wonderful museum dedicated to her work opens in Cascais a coastal town outside Lisbon named ' House Of Stories: Paula Rego '. It's one of very few galleries dedicated to a living artist.

Biography

The Jane Eyre series of paintings and prints was exhibited at Marlborough Fine Art in October 2003 coinciding with the publication of Paula Rego - The Complete Graphic Work published by Thames & Hudson. A major Retrospective exhibition of paintings, prints and drawings from 1997-2004 was on show at the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Oporto, www.serralves.pt from October 2004-January 2005. An exhibition of Paula's work including her triptych 'The Pillow Man' was shown at Tate Britain from 27 October 2004 - 2 January 2005. This was the first in Tate Britain’s new biennial series of concise exhibitions featuring the work of senior British artists. The exhibition included early work responding to the political climate in Portugal of the 1960's; Triptych 1998 - a response to the referendum in Portugal on the question of legalising abortion and more recent paintings. Paula Rego's painting 'War' and selected prints were on view at the "Only Make-Believe" exhibition at Compton Verney, Warwickshire from 25 March - 5 June 2005. www.comptonverney.org.uk

1935 Born in Lisbon, Portugal 1952-56 Slade School of Fine Art 1990 Appointed the First National Gallery Associate Artist 1999 Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of St. Andrews, Scotland; Honorary Doctorate of Letters, University of East Anglia, Norwich; 2000 Honorary Doctorate of Letters, Rhode Island School of Design, USA. Lives and works in London

Selectedd Solo Exhibitions

1975 Módulo Centro Difusor da Arte, Lisbon
1982 Edward Totah Gallery, London (also in 1984,85 and 87)
1988 Retrospective Exhibition,Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon; Casa de Serralves, Oporto; Serpentine Gallery, London
1989 Marlborough Graphics, London (also in 1992-93,96 and 99)
1991-92 Tales from the National Gallery - touring exhibition
1992-93 Marlborough Fine Art, London (also in 1994)
1996 New Work , Marlborough Gallery, New York
1997 Retrospective exhibition - Tate Gallery Liverpool
1998 The Sin of Father Amaro , Dulwich Picture Gallery, London
1999 Recent Work , Marlborough Galeria SA, Madrid; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian , Lisbon Open Secrets - Drawings and Etchings , University Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, USA; Centre Culturel Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris Pendle Witches, Children's Crusade and Drawings , Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal
2001-02 Celestina's House , Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, travelling to
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut
2004-05 Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, 15 October - Jan 2005
2004 Tate Britain 27 October - 2 Jan. 2005
2005 Paula Rego Printmaker, print retrospective exhibition touring the UK
2006 Recent work, Marlborough Fine Art, London, 11 October - 18 November
2007 Paula Rego Graven Images, Waterhall Gallery of Modern Art, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery
2007-08 Paula Rego Retrospective exhibition, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, 25 September – 30 December. Travelling to the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, 1 February – 25 May 2008
2008 Paula Rego Human Cargo, Marlborough Chelsea, New York, 17 April – 17 May

CATALOGUES

John McEwen Paula Rego , Phaidon Press, London, 1992 Paula Rego , Tate Gallery Publications, 1997
Fiona Bradley Paula Rego , Tate Publishing, 2002

Neil MacGregor, The Daily Telegraph Britain's Paintings , Cassell Illustrated, 2003, Page 57.

Dr Marie Manuel Lisboa, Paula Rego's Map of Memory: National and Sexual Politics , Ashgate Publishing LTD.,Hampshire,2003.

Stephen Stuart-Smith with introduction by Marina Warner, Paula Rego-Jane Eyre , Enitharmon Editions, London, 2003.

TG Rosenthal, Paula Rego: The Complete Graphic Work , Thames&Hudson, London, 2003.

Paula Rego in Focus , Tate Britain, Oct 2004 - Jan 2005.

Ruth Rosengarten, Compreender Paula Rego – 25 Perspectivas, Publico Serralves, 2004.

John McEwen, Paula Rego: Behind the Scenes, Phaidon Press, London, 2008.

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

Arts Council, British Council, Gulbenkian Foundation, Portugal, National Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery, London, Portuguese Embassy, London, Tate Britain, etc.

LINKS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/regop1.shtml

http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/paula_rego.htm

http://www.kunstbus.nl/kunst/paula+rego.html

http://www.tate.org.uk/onlineevents/webcasts/paula_rego/default.jsp

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