Created in Luanda, in 2017, to give visibility to local artists and from the African and Portuguese-speaking diasporas, Movart will open its own space on Rua João Penha, directed by Janire Bilbao, the founder, after having presented projects, last year, temporarily , in a space at the Palais Castilho, in Lisbon.
The Movart Lisboa Gallery will open with the exhibition "Air Ihosva", by the Angolan artist Ihosvanny, who, on the opening day, from 4 pm, will create a mural in the gallery building's courtyard, and the process will be able to be followed by visitors .
In this exhibition, the artist presents new works in painting and installation that, through visual poems, represent the forms of resistance in the contemporary world, usually inspired by the urban landscape of the city of Luanda, but which in this project are extended to the context of the Portuguese capital, where he was in artistic residency.
Born in Angola in 1975, Ihosvanny lives and works between Barcelona and Luanda, and, according to the gallery, he is a self-taught artist, who belongs to the generation of Angolan artists from the post-independence period.
His work is influenced by the urban dynamics of the cities he lives or passes through, defragmenting these places and exploring the experiences of urbanism in painting, photography, video and installation.
He participated in individual, collective and art fairs in South Africa, Angola, Brazil, Cuba, USA, France, England, Italy, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe and Uganda, namely at the Jewish Museum (New York, 2014), the Museum of Art of Moderna da Bahia (Salvador, 2012), the 11th Havana Biennial (Cuba, 2012), the Luanda Triennial (2010, 2007), and the 52nd Venice Biennial (2007).
The gallery program now announced includes individual exhibitions by António Ole, in December this year, and Rita GT, in March 2021.
Project originating in Luanda, where it remains today, the Movart gallery was founded by then consultant Janire Bilbao, focusing on the presentation of experimental and itinerant exhibitions, by local artists and the contemporary African diaspora, in the city of Luanda and abroad, with around 40 exhibitions held in different formats, from pop-up projects to curated projects, which were presented in Luanda, Lisbon, Paris and New York.
"Movart's mission is to ensure that the world gets to know the production of artists from countries on the African continent and their diasporas", says Janire Bilbao, founder and director of the gallery, cited in a statement, in which she also comments that artists from this continent "they are often underrepresented or even exoticized, in the world artistic scene".
Movart has regularly participated in international fairs such as 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair (New York), Scope International Art Show (Miami Beach), Joburg Art Fair (Johannesburg), London Art Fair (London), AKAA Fair (Paris) , ARCOMadrid and ARCOlisboa.
He adds that "the positive impact of the gallery's participation in the 2019 edition of ARCOlisboa, in the context of África em Foco, which was curated by Paula Nascimento, was decisive in the decision" to invest in Portugal, and open its own space in Lisbon. , with an exhibition program, which will start to articulate Lisbon and Luanda.
As for the gallery in Luanda, "it will become a platform more focused on artistic residency projects and the discovery of new talents, who will then be able to circulate in the Lisbon gallery, and be presented in other international contexts", according to Edna Bettencourt, director of Movart Luanda, also mentioned in the statement.
The exhibition will be open until 10 December at the gallery, located at number 14A R / C, Rua João Penha, a few meters from Jardim das Amoreiras, in Lisbon.
