Limerick, Ireland
Albano Afonso, Painting of Light, 2004, photographic paper, mirrors, 2 light projectors, 200 light bulbs and electric wire, dimensions variable

Albano Afonso

b. 1964, Brazil

In the projection developed by Albano, the forest opens into a clearing, and where we originally saw the horseman wrenching out the heart and bowels of his lover, we now have the luminous presence of Adam and Eve holding hands, their bodies joined by hundreds of electric wires, thematising the original tragic story of separation and death symbolised by the loss of eternity, the divine attribute of Adam and Eve in Paradise. It is interesting to note that Albano goes against the flow of the technological race which marks part of current artistic production, and creates his biblical couple in a rather precarious, even low tech fashion … Beyond the interdependence between two people, the characteristic weakness of amorous liaisons is reiterated by the construction of the work, such as the fact that the circuits for each of the hundreds of lamps are connected in pairs: if a lamp burns out in Adam, it does so in Eve too, symmetrically and simultaneously.

In this universe created by Albano Afonso – a system in which the symbols of religiosity cannot be denied – the saturation of light is responsible for the intangible meaning of the scene, in accordance with the unreal and ethereal shine of the forest. Inhabiting an environment as unlikely as the meeting between two persons, visitors pick their way slowly and carefully, like a lost horsemen in a forest, fearing what they may find, or fearing of destroying some very precious thing. They seem to be wandering aimlessly, as if in search of some thing very valuable that has been definitively lost.

— Fernando Oliva

(Text: OPEN e v + a catalogue, 2005)

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