HELENA ALMEIDA
Habitar a Obra | Castelo Branco
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Helena Almeida (Lisbon, 1934-2018) produced a singular work during the
1960s characterised by a profound interest in the body and its central place –
that records, occupies and defines space – and its performative encounter with
the world. The first abstract canvases by the artist were a critical approach
to the limits of the pictorial space and the literal conditions of painting. That
interest extended to photography in the 1070s, when the distinctive space of
the artist’s studio and of the female body, fragmented and partially obscured,
became recurring presences. Helena Almeida meticulously outlines a choreography
in the composition of her works, with drawings and sketches that highlight her
use of the colour and the body, an example of which is the work Untitled (1994-95), specifically produced for the artist’s exhibition at the Serralves
Villa, in 1995.