NEW YORK, NY.- Rooster Gallery presents Nuno Henrique’s ЯATƧ. Exhibiting regularly since 2009, Henrique’s work has been inspired by accounts of botanical species from Madeira Island, the place he was born and raised. The island’s ancient Laurel Forest covered the European continent and the Mediterranean basin but due to climate change that occurred since the Pliocene and the Ice Age, it only survived in the archipelagos of Macaronesia.
More recently, in the 15th century, the forest was almost drawn into extinction by Portuguese and Spanish colonization. Thus, Henrique’s work resulted from the experience of the island forest’s absence.
In 2012, during his first stay in New York and following his initial interest, Henrique developed research on the local native botanical species. This investigation quickly evolved and embraced other aspects of the city, from its environs to the history of its colonization. His exhibition at Rooster is grounded in that previous and ongoing research. A rat trap found in his studio and a 18th century military map of Manhattan were the starting point of this new series of work that embodies important cultural and political aspects. In the map the lost natural features of Manhattan Island and its surroundings are represented, as well as the military fortifications built by the Europeans to gain and dispute control over the region. Devices such as rat traps also imply a control and destruction of an enemy.
Through drawing, sculpture, printmaking and artist books, Nuno Henrique is able to connect seemingly disparate elements, such as the rat trap and the map. By revealing the link between them new works emerge using visual elements of both in a subtle manner; the brand design of the rat trap and the map’s military insignia are brought together. This attitude is extended through the artist’s distinct use of color and materials in the works being presented at Rooster Gallery.
In addition, in this new series, improvisation was an important attitude in the artist’s studio. Not knowing exactly where to go, Henrique had to be particularly focused in order to receive the clues that would allow him to move from one work to another. Most of his important decisions were set in motion through other people’s comments and ideas such as a studio visit, which lead him to Star Wars. While working with the movie’s logo design / font the artist soon realized that STAR when mirrored writes ЯATƧ, the title of the present exhibition.
Nuno Henrique (b.1982, Funchal) lives and works in New York and is represented by Galeria Módulo, Lisbon. He received his BA in Sculpture from the School of Fine Arts of Oporto (2005) and attended the Individual Project program at Ar.Co, Lisbon (2010) with a grant by Porta 33. Henrique is currently doing his MFA at Pratt Institute, NY, with a grant by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Luso-American Foundation. He was also awarded a grant from Fondation Botin to attend the Lothar Baumgarten’s workshop Santander (2012) and was an artist-inresidence at Location One, NY (2012). Recent exhibitions include: “Flores; Frutos; Hojas; Savia; Tallo. O Grande Atlas do Mundo”, Twin Gallery, Madrid, Spain; O Grande Atlas do Mundo, Galeria Módulo, Lisbon; As Saudades da Terra, Galeria Módulo, Lisbon; O velho Dragoeiro que existia na Ponta do Garajau caiu ao mar durante uma chuvada intensa de sudeste, ocorrida no equinócio de Outono de 1982, Porta 33, Funchal; Quarenta Calcos, Galeria Módulo, Lisbon; Estradas Secundárias (with Samuel Silva), Paisagem e Natureza na Arte Contemporâna Portuguesa, Museu de Évora; Laboratório das Artes, Guimarães, Me, Myself and I, IV Certamen de Dibujo Contemporáneo Pilar y Andrés Centenera Jaraba, Madrid; Linha de Partida, Centro de Artes Casa das Mudas, Calheta.
