Lacunas da Memória

It took four days of intensive work, resulting in more than 8 meters of painting that will not leave anyone who visits Vila Nova de Cerveira indifferent. Elton Hipólito (BR) is the artist responsible for the public art project “Lacunas da Memória” that recalls the recently deceased sculptor José Rodrigues (1936-2016).

It was within the framework of the 2016 Artistic Residency program of the Fundação Bienal de Arte de Cerveira that Elton Hipólito went to the “art village”. According to the artist from São Paulo, his work was intended to “contribute to questions that arise from personal experiences and impressions of today’s society that are inherent in forgetting, memory and preservation”. And that was precisely the reason for choosing José Rodrigues as the central figure of his project.

It should be noted that in this “dialogue with contemporary artistic production”, Elton Hipólito chose to use only natural pigment paints. Earth collected from the Castelinho Leisure Park for the light tones of the work and earth from the Senhora da Monte Encarnação for the dark colours and draw attention to the problem of fires.

The painting is located in front of the garden space with the sculpture 'O Esforço' by José Rodrigues, which the Vila Nova de Cerveira City Council will rename "Jardim Mestre Zé Rodrigues - Escultor - 1936/2016”.