ALTKIRCH.- Jonathas de Andrade’s practice takes advantage of the visual and narrative possibilities of media such as installation, photography, film and sculpture and is grounded in research processes that are profoundly collaborative in nature. His ongoing reflection speculates on the shortcomings of late modernity’s utopias, ideals and world visions, especially in Latin America, and more specifically in Northeastern Brazil. The resulting works tend to conjure feelings and ideas that oscillate between nostalgia, eroticism and historical and political critique in order to subjectively address issues such as labor and identity, almost exclusively through the representation of the male body.

Even though the presence of the male body has taken center stage in de Andrade’s practice throughout the years, it has never been perceived as a research focus or a topic in and of itself, but rather as a tool to inquire into other issues. This exhibition attempts to correct that by focusing on the role that men and their bodies, in all their erotic splendor, as well as their clandestine meeting spots, have had in the construction of a nuanced and ambiguous, at times conflicting and contradictory, homoerotic gaze.

Olho—Faísca [Eye—Spark] is Jonathas de Andrade’s first solo institutional show in France, and his first survey show in Europe. It presents a selection of works spanning the entirety of his career. The show is co-curated by João Mourão and Luís Silva and is a co-production with Lisbon’s MAAT—Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology, where it will travel in January 2023.

Jonathas de Andrade was born in 1982 in Maceió and lives and works in Recife, in Northeastern Brazil. He has presented solo shows in institutions such as The Power Plant (Toronto, Canada), The New Museum (New York, USA), or MASP (Sao Paulo, Brazil). He has participated in numerous biennials and group exhibitions at renowned institutions throughout the world. His most recent project Com o coração saindo pela boca—With the heart coming out of the mouth is the Brazillian Pavilion in the 2022 edition of the Venice Biennale.

João Mourão and Luís Silva are a curatorial duo based in the Azores and Lisbon. They are the curators of the Portugal Pavilion at the 59th Venice Biennale. João Mourão currently serves as the Director of Arquipélago Centro de Artes, in the Azores, and Luís Silva is the Director of Kunsthalle Lissabon, in Lisbon. A selection of recent shows they curated as a duo includes solos by Ad Minoliti, Zheng Bo, Laure Prouvost, Caroline Mesquita, Engel Leonardo and Sol Calero. They were the curators of ZONA MACO SUR (2015—2017), the solo projects section of Mexico City’s contemporary art fair, and Artissima’s Disegni section (2017—2019), dedicated to recent developments in drawing. Besides their curatorial practice, they contribute regularly to several international art magazines and have edited numerous monographic volumes.