Pathosformel

Galeria Francisco Fino is delighted to announce Vasco Araújo's solo exhibition Pathosformel, at Rialto6, opening May 17th at 9:30PM. 

The exhibition Pathosformel shares its name with a film made by the artist at the beginning of 2020 (in collaboration with the School of Arts, Univ. Católica do Porto), consisting of different episodes which rethink and challenge certain myths of Classical Antiquity. Between them the exhibition and film play a game of convergence and divergence: they are autonomous, but intimately related. The installation that makes up the exhibition is comprised of the film and certain of its props, small sculptural pieces and artworks, as well as two video-sculptures, the Entre Actos (Between Acts) which, as suggested by their title, bring up the idea of an interval, an interlude or something intermediate within the exhibition as a whole, not least because they are contemplated separately. 

The exhibition's title is inspired by a similarly-named concept developed by Aby Warburg (1866-1929): Pathosformel suggests an "indissoluble intertwining of an emotional charge and an iconographic formula", thus defining "archetypal gestures associated with emotions like sadness, joy, fear, despair, hate, love, hope, desire, frustration, audacity, sanctioned by repetition and stratification of subjective experiences". 

Crucial to these works is the idea of crisis understood as a fracture, or disharmony. This collapse, so to speak, foreshadows a radical, decisive "experience", where no part, be it internal or external, not even the end as suggested by the very title, can be taken for granted. The emphasis should not be placed on the result, but rather on the process, the unfolding of experience. 

Overall, the exhibition is focused on the verbalised action, the imagery of violence, psychological emotions and the ecstasy of feeling, to then reflect on the way to support the pain caused by forces beyond individual control: our passions, irretrievable loss; the irreversibility of time; to ultimately reflect on our destiny, and what it is to be human and alive.

Opening