In Pulso, her seventh solo show at Galeria Vermelho, Lia Chaia reflects on the human body from two viewpoints: the situation of the body in relation to the pressures arising from society, and the gradual distancing in the Human – Nature relationship. Although these tensions have pervaded all he work, the artist is now focusing on the specificities that compose the human organism as a sign of vitality, emphasizing the body’s pulsing aspect.
Thus, in Pôster [Poster] (2017), Lia Chaia bases her work on the human anatomy charts typically found in medical books, in which the body is standardized and structured within a schematic physiology, and interferes on them with elements that resemble blood cells or human organs. The “cells” escape from the outlines of the charted bodies, reflecting the unfathomable aspects of the understanding of human morphology.
In Articulações [Articulations] (2017), the same blood particles arise on gray nylon screens, delimiting parameters that evoke human bodies. In a game of inversions, the globules and platelets normally confined to the body’s interior, running through its perimeter and structure, become a surface, and the nylon screens, normally used to envelop buildings under construction – like skins – become a structure.
Cabeças [Heads] (2017) are cubes set atop bases that simulate Chaia’s height. The cubes, with their tangles of electrical wires and cables, rupture the expected perfection of the suggested geometric form. The hanging cables refer to exposed veins running down to the floor.
The video Faces (2016) features a multifaced human. The successive appearance of masks points to the simultaneously unaware and attentive state found in current society. With Faces Lia Chaia returns to placing her own body in the performance for the video camera and, together with the screening entitled Mostra Lia Chaia, in Sala Antonio, Galeria Vermelho is showing 19 videos by Chaia during Pulso.
In the clashing between the urban and the natural, survival depends on the permanence and protection of the skin made from the natural – or on the ability and insistence to exchange one’s own skin in order to endure that clashing, like is suggested by the Tiras [Strips] (2017).
In Camuflagem [Camouflage] (2017), two photographs present bodies fused with the natural landscape. The images combine the human with the natural environment in an organic unit.
The exhibition also features artworks which deal with circulation in a hybrid, simultaneously natural and urban environment, as is also found in the sound installation Assobio [Whistle] (2017). In the audio, an everyday sound heard in the street marks an unpretentious walk. It is an installation that spreads through the space of the gallery.
In Pulso, her seventh solo show at Galeria Vermelho, Lia Chaia reflects on the human body from two viewpoints: the situation of the body in relation to the pressures arising from society, and the gradual distancing in the Human – Nature relationship. Although these tensions have pervaded all he work, the artist is now focusing on the specificities that compose the human organism as a sign of vitality, emphasizing the body’s pulsing aspect.
Thus, in Pôster [Poster] (2017), Lia Chaia bases her work on the human anatomy charts typically found in medical books, in which the body is standardized and structured within a schematic physiology, and interferes on them with elements that resemble blood cells or human organs. The “cells” escape from the outlines of the charted bodies, reflecting the unfathomable aspects of the understanding of human morphology.
In Articulações [Articulations] (2017), the same blood particles arise on gray nylon screens, delimiting parameters that evoke human bodies. In a game of inversions, the globules and platelets normally confined to the body’s interior, running through its perimeter and structure, become a surface, and the nylon screens, normally used to envelop buildings under construction – like skins – become a structure.
Cabeças [Heads] (2017) are cubes set atop bases that simulate Chaia’s height. The cubes, with their tangles of electrical wires and cables, rupture the expected perfection of the suggested geometric form. The hanging cables refer to exposed veins running down to the floor.
The video Faces (2016) features a multifaced human. The successive appearance of masks points to the simultaneously unaware and attentive state found in current society. With Faces Lia Chaia returns to placing her own body in the performance for the video camera and, together with the screening entitled Mostra Lia Chaia, in Sala Antonio, Galeria Vermelho is showing 19 videos by Chaia during Pulso.
In the clashing between the urban and the natural, survival depends on the permanence and protection of the skin made from the natural – or on the ability and insistence to exchange one’s own skin in order to endure that clashing, like is suggested by the Tiras [Strips] (2017).
In Camuflagem [Camouflage] (2017), two photographs present bodies fused with the natural landscape. The images combine the human with the natural environment in an organic unit.
The exhibition also features artworks which deal with circulation in a hybrid, simultaneously natural and urban environment, as is also found in the sound installation Assobio [Whistle] (2017). In the audio, an everyday sound heard in the street marks an unpretentious walk. It is an installation that spreads through the space of the gallery.
