Gil Heitor Cortesao
Born in 1967 in Lisbon/Portugal
Currently lives and works in Lisbon
Artist Statement
"A lot of my paintings depict urban landscapes or architectural interiors. Using images of buildings and architectural structures from a certain historical period, I call up the memory of modernism."
"Modernism had a very strong utopian dimension. In many cases it was a question of creating a new society, a new world in which art took on a hitherto unknown role or stopped being strictly necessary, as the boundaries between life and art were overcome. But the modern project was left incomplete and it’s conclusion was probably impossible. Perhaps these boundaries can never be completely annulled."
"In architecture, in the buildings that surround us or we inhabit, in the organization of urban spaces, that modern inheritance is present, not only in that which is admirable in it, but also in the sense of failure and ruin, because there was no emerging of a new society as it was imagined by the utopian modernists. Preference for urban spaces in my work may be related to that historical awareness."
Collections
Grand Duc Jean Mudan museum of contemporary art, Luxemburg
ARCO Foundation, Madrid
Portuguese Industrial Association, Lisbon
Foundation Lidio Pinho, Lisbon
CAM/JAP, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon
EDP – Electricidade de Portugal, Lisbon
Banco Privado para Fundação de Serralves, Porto/Portugal
Colecção António Cachola, Campo Maior
Colecção Fundação Ilídio Pinho
Education
Licenciatura em Artes Plásticas-Pintura/BA Fine Arts-Painting FBAUL, Lisboa/Lisbon, 1990
Solo Exhibitions (Selected)
2009
Upcoming, "Memories from the Future", Carbon 12, Dubai/UAE
"Atrás do vulcão e três pinturas semi-amestradas", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon/Portugal
2008
"The Remote Viewer", Gallery Suzanne Tarasiève, Paris
2007
"Mapa", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
"Modelo para Armar", Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo/Brazil
2005
"Um Hóspede muito Discreto", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
2004
"Mnémopolis", Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, Galeria de Exposições Temporárias, Lisbon/Portugal
2003
"Torcicolor", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
2002
Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo
2001
"Os Dias passam Claros", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
1999
"Destruir, diz ela", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
1998
"Dançam Lebres na Selva", Galeria da Restauração, Porto
1996
"Rosas Azuis", Museu Botânico, Lisboa
1995
"Defenestrazione", Ruggine, Turin Zona Castalia, Turin/Italy
1992
Galeria Módulo, Porto
1990
Galeria Módulo, Lisbon
1988
Galeria Módulo, Lisbon
Group Exhibitions (Selected)
2008
"Sneak Preview", Carbon 12, Dubai
2007
Portugal Agora – À propos des lieux d’origine, Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean (MUDAM), Luxemburg
"Some stories on paper", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
"A Postcard from the Volcano", Galerie Suzanne Tarasiève, Paris
Colecção António Cachola: Algumas Paisagens, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Elvas, Elvas
Transfert – Obras do CAMJAP em Itinerância, Alto Comissariado para a Imigração e Minorias Étnicas, Lisboa, e Palácio da Galeria, Tavira
2006
"Densidade Relativa", Centro de Artes/Centro Cultural Emmerico Nunes, Sines
2005
"Densidade Relativa", Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian – Centro de Arte Moderna, Lisbon
Prémio de Artes Plásticas União Latina 2005, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa
2004
Premio del Golfo 2004 – Biennale Europea di Arti Visive La Spezia, Centro Arte Moderna e Contemporânea della Spezia, La Spezia
"Entre Duas Luzes – Arte Contemporânea na Assembleia", Assembleia da República, Lisbon
2001
Colección Fundación ARCO, Circulo de Bellas Artes de Madrid, Madrid
2000
"Accrochage", Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon
Salon de Montrouge, Montrouge e Lisboa
Collectors Choice, Exit Art, New York
Prémio EDP de Pintura e Desenho, Palácio da Ajuda, Lisboa
1999
Accrochage, Galeria Canvas, Porto
1997
Biennale dei Giovani Artisti del Europa e del Mediterraneo, Turin/Italy
1996
"Der Stand der Gezeiten", Gallerie am Scheunenviertel, Berlin/Germany
"Jovens Criadores", Cordoaria Nacional, Lisbon
1995
"Box Benefit", Willis Gallery, Detroit/USA
1990
EIAM, Cáceres, Campo Maior
1989
"Perspectivas", Galeria Módulo, Lisbon
"Desenho", Galeria Módulo, Lisbon
Catalogue
“Mnemopolis”, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2004, Lisbon
Scholarships
1991/92, Bolsa da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian para Academia Albertina di Belle Arti de Turim, Itália/Scholarship from Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation for the Academia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino, Italy
Books
Nazaré, Leonor / Martins, Celso, “Gil Heitor Cortesão-Pintura 1996/2001”, (bilingue/bilingual português-inglês/portuguese-english), Edição autor/Galeria Pedro Cera, 2002, Lisboa, Portugal BACK TO TOP