REVIEWED: Joana Vasconcelos at the Ajuda National Palace

By Sandra Camacho

Joana Vasconcelos, The Bride, 2001-2005

Courtesy of the artist.

Following her hugely successful retrospective attracting 1.6 million visitors at the Palace of Versailles last summer, Paris-born Portuguese artist Joana Vasconcelos (b.1971) is now exhibiting in another grand environment - the Ajuda National Palace, Lisbon. The exhibition follows the same curatorial concept as at Versailles - giving a broad view of the artist’s career but this time including The Bride (2001-2005), a chandelier piece composed of virginally white tampons deemed inappropriate to show at Versailles.

Joana Vasconcelos, Petit Gâteau, 2011

Courtesy of the artist.

 

Joana Vasconcelos can be contentious, particularly in Portugal where the work of local contemporary artists is mainly reflective, quiet and experimental, none of which at first glance describes Vasconcelos’s own work. The first piece at the Ajuda National Palace, Petit Gâteau (2011), a giant cupcake made out of colourful plastic moulds shaped like pretzels, pears or apples is confounding in its placement partly because the viewer is initially not fully prepared to see contemporary works in a neo-classical setting but mostly because, of all the works, the piece may seem out of place in a palace. It is only after encountering the second piece in the darkened main foyer, The Garden of Eden (Maria Pia) (2007-2013), a fantastical installation of reflective flowers popular in the 1980s that the experiment of exhibiting contemporary art in a palace begins to appeal and make sense.

Joana Vasconcelos, The Garden of Eden (Maria Pia), 2007-2013

Courtesy of the artist.

    

The Ajuda National Palace, built between 1796 and the late 1800s, served as a residence for the Portuguese monarchy until the establishment of the Republic in 1910. Presently not in its full splendour, the silk lining the walls is falling apart and the stonework shows signs of ageing. The palace is visited almost entirely by tourists - something the present exhibition seeks to change.

   

Joana Vasconcelos, Carmen, 2012

Courtesy of the artist.

Vasconcelos is known for constructing pieces around populist Portuguese iconography and adapted everyday objects and consequently viewers may find it strange to encounter her works in a royal palace that was once inaccessible to the general population. However, the exhibition works. If one sees the artist’s sculptures in a white gallery setting, they stand out for being big, loud and garish. At the Ajuda National Palace, as I am sure it was at Versailles, they shine through. Their garishness fades into a background of extreme luxury and excess which ironically enables the viewer to focus on the works’ content.

   

Joana Vasconcelos, Alorna, 2013

Courtesy of the artist.

Take her use of Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro’s ceramics; there are few things that represent Portuguese popular culture as well as the works of the 19th century ceramicist/cartoonist. Bordalo Pinheiro’s works embody the discontent of the general populace with the ruling elites. These included the former royal family whose old property is now hosting larger-than-life sculptures of crabs, frogs or hunting dogs covered in white doilies that echo popular home décor of the mid 20th century. Strangely enough, Bordalo Pinheiro’s rough ceramics do not seem out of place in the royal collection of Meissen porcelain, but instead enable the viewer to establish a connection between regal decorative tastes of centuries past with those of one’s own grandmothers. In this original manner, Vasconcelos injects a sense of humanity into royalty itself.

   

Joana Vasconcelos, Maria Pia, 2013

Courtesy of the artist.

It is this capacity that makes the exhibition a success. It displays both the work of Vasconcelos and the setting of the Ajuda National Palace in a new and favourable light. In the midst of all the grandeur, Vasconcelos’s pieces no longer appear tacky - as some in Portugal describe her work - and the palace itself appears fresh, fun and accessible. The late royals would have most likely been unimpressed at being associated with such a joyful and open endeavour but it is precisely this, together with Vasconcelos’s pieces that are attracting visitors to the palace, particularly locals.

Note: Joana Vasconcelos will be representing Portugal in this year’s Venice Biennale.

Joana Vasconcelos, Full Steam Ahead (Red #1), 2012

Courtesy of the artist.

Joana Vasconcels, Marilyn (AP), 2011

Courtesy of the artist.

Joana Vasconcelos, Coração Independente Vermelho (Red Independent Heart), 2005

Courtesy of the artist.

  

JOANA VASCONCELOS AT THE AJUDA NATIONAL PALACE, Lisbon, Portugal, 23 Mar - 25 Aug 2013