February 11th, 2022
Project Room view. Photography: Hannah Archambault
GROUP PROJECT:
Laura Caetano e Pedro Tinôco
CURATORSHIP:
Francisca Portugal (curator in residence)
portugal
Can anyone clarify a doubt I've had for years? Where does this expression come from?
'Bye Laura'?
brat
This is when someone says goodbye to a person or thing named Laura.
jmschevaler
Must come from "laurear".
korda
It's 'Bye Felicia' in Portuguese.
UniuM
It was me and a friend who invented this in 99. In fact, this and so many other things. It's 4 am... I'm going to sleep, bye Laura.
— reddit thread
The initial idea for this exhibition came from a discussion about what to do with all the materials and pieces when you permanently leave a studio and the ironic meaning of the expression "bye Laura".
A possible answer materializes itself in what is perhaps the most difficult to present in a concrete way: sentimental-intellectual values but also love for working and sharing art within a studio. It may linger in an echo of conversations, frustrations, afterwards and insecurities that become invisible when the pieces go to the gallery wall.
In this video installation, the two painters, Laura and Pedro present 4 video performances of unpublished records of their studio life. This encounter with two practices and two distinct personalities shows us a record that becomes self-critical if we chose to believe in their theories and irony.
On the first video, a candid portrait in motion... a self-contemplation that can also be an external and active observation . (This video reminded me of a night in Bairro Alto when someone told Laura she looked like an artist, I agree.) On another, basically, the penniless and hungry artist for big banquets while judging others online.
On a third video, the construction of a still life of objects found in the studio. Empty bottles and toys proliferate... and the artist who drinks, plays and copies children's drawings. And finally, the most dramatic of the four, the artist's death, crucifixion and resurrection inspired by a Baselitz catalog that is, in the end, a good companion for your path to the eternal.
