Albuquerque Mendes
Biography
Albuquerque Mendes was born in Trancoso, in 1953. Today, he lives and works in Leça da Palmeira.
A member of Grupo Puzzle, from its foundation in 1976 to its last exhibition in 1980, and co-founder, with Gerardo Burmester, of Associação de Arte Espaço Lusitano, one of the most dynamic places where to find the young portuguese art in the mid eighties, Albuquerque Mendes has been one of the most active and intense presences in the portuguese art world.
He was a member of Círculo de Artes Plásticas de Coimbra (CAPC), between 1970 and 1975, and there he held his first solo show in 1971. He created his first intervention, A Arte é bela, tudo é belo, for the 1000011º Anniversary of Art, celebrated at CAPC on the 17th January 1974. The second edition of Encontros Internacionais de Arte em Portugal (Viana do Castelo, 1975) provided the perfect setting for the performance of Albuquerque Mendes’ first pagan ritual, Ritual.
From his most recent exhibitions and projects, solo and group shows, we can stand out the following ones: O Homem que vê aviões debaixo da Terra, in Espaço Concreto no Cineteatro Garret (Póvoa do Varzim, Portugal, 2022); Na inquietude do desejo, curated by Maria de Fátima Lambert in Museu Nacional de Soares dos Reis (Porto, Portugal, 2018); FOGO, curated by Agostinho Santos in Casa-Museu Teixeira Lopes/Galerias Diogo de Macedo (Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal, 2018); Jugglers – Problemas e Insolvência, in Galeria Graça Brandão (Lisboa, Portugal, 2018); Nunca fiz uma exposição de desenhos, curated by Paula Pinto, at CAAA, Centre for Arts and Architecture Studies (Guimarães, Portugal, 2016); O Lugar da Casa, Cooperativa Árvore, (Porto, Portugal, 2015); 23 Décembre 1888, curated by Fátima Lambert, in Quase Galeria (Porto, Portugal, 2014); Prometheus fecit – terra, água, mão e fogo, curated by Fátima Lambert, in Museu Nacional Soares dos Reis (Porto, Portugal, 2014); Estratégias para de(mu)rar o tempo, curated by Fátima Lambert, in Casa-Museu Marta Ortigão Sampaio (Porto, Portugal, 2014); Paradoxos degenerados: entre ações, pensamento e obras, na Carpe Diem – Arte e Pesquisa (Lisbon, Portugal, 2014); Festim, na Galeria Graça Brandão (Lisbon, Portugal, 2013); den dag manden faldt ned fra himlen i Danmark in Galeria Nuno Centeno (Porto, Portugal, 2012) and Eu tenho 57 anos e isso não quer dizer nada, in Galeria Graça Brandão (Lisbon, Portugal, 2011); the installation Making of / La Creazione at Chiesa Sant’Antonio dei Portoghesi (Roma, Itália, 2010); the performance They shoot horses, don’t they? (with Beatriz Albuquerque) in A Sala (Porto, Portugal, 2009); Camino de Santo (with Nelson Leirner), travelling exhibiton between Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderna (Valencia, Spain, 2009); the Casa das Americas (Madrid, Spain, 2009) and the MEIAC (Badajoz, Spain, 2009); Natureza e Crueldade, anthologic exhibition in Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Nitéroi, (Nitéroi, Brasil, 2005); the performance Guanabara Bay in Galeria Graça Brandão (Porto, Portugal, 2004) and Confesso in Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves (Porto, Portugal, 2001).
