presentation of the book “metanarrativa — feci quod potui (medalha, moeda & objetos” by josé teixeira

23rd APRIL 2021 > 4.30 PM I LAGOA HENRIQUES AUDITORIUM 

On April 23, at 4:30 pm, in Lagoa Henriques auditorium, the presentation  of the book “METANARRATIVE – feci quod potui (medalha, moedas & objetos”) by José Teixeira.

Due to the current situation and considering the rules of the DGS there will be a limit number of participants, being allowed to enter exclusively those who have an invitation.

The idea for this publication occurred during the Summer of 2019, after the preparations for the individual exhibition assembling, Feci quod potui — Medalha, Moeda & Objetos, that occurred between September 12th and 27th at FBAUL (Lisbon’s University of Fine Arts). 

The exhibition that had the curatorship of Andreia Pereira and the logistic and museographic support of the Designer João Rocha, from the Projectlab/FBAUL, had as main purpose to mark the 25 years of my medallic art production, that had started precisely in the years of 1994/95, at S.Francisco Convent, within the scope of the Curricular Unit taught by Professor Hélder Batista (responsible) and his Assistant Professor João Duarte. 

The project for this anthological exhibition was motivated by three aspects: I wanted to take the opportunity to promote my work, which had achieved international visibility and prestige but, on the other hand, relative acknowledgement nationally; to pay a simple homage to the memory of Professor Hélder, who had invited me to be the curator of medalha construída (built medal) exhibition, scheduled for the FBAUL Gallery, but the fatality of his departure prevented it from happening; and finally, I wanted to attract the new generations for the practice of medallic art, an art whose teaching and dynamism brought the greatest prestige to Portugal as demonstrated, for example, by the “J. Sanford Saltus Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Art of the Medal”, awarded in 1998 to Professor Hélder Batista and in 2011 to João Duarte. 

Quite aware of the legacy that was given to me, while Professor held responsible for the Curricular Unit of Medallic Art since 2016/17, I felt obliged to continue that work, as far as teaching was concerned, but also on promoting that artistic expression, prejudicially seen as a minor form of art.

The choice of the name — metanarrativa (metanarrative) derives from a personal gaze over my own work, where, in parallel to the specific context of each object, persists a subliminal background or, subliminal speech, hypertextual, symbiotically related to the medal territory, while contemporary artistic expression. I would say that the metanarrative has been a beacon whose light searches the materials poetic possibilities (stone, wood, bronze, copper, brass, aluminium, carbon steel, stainless steel, zinc, tin, lead, leather, acrylic, polycarbonate, polyurethane, vinyl, fibered board, polyester, plastic…) aiming to expand the field of medallic art intervention and simultaneously seeking the methods to replicate on the latest technological procedures. It is on the serial multiplicity that medallic art stands out from sculpture.  

Similarly, to the prolix and multifaceted work, this publication’s organization is also a reflection of the approach’s diversity.  Without intending to categorise, I would say that the middle is built by testimonies and studies that mark the multiplicity of the artistic and personal relation on the medallic art scope.  To complement the contribute given graciously by all the authors, I set myself to write the final text where I continued the investigation about the “Metanarrative” in sculpture.

At this moment, I acknowledge that I see in this book a hybrid, heterogeneous and polymorphic object, qui ça, synonym of one who takes the risk to seek for unravelled paths. 

JOSÉ TEIXEIRA