(Comporta, Portugal)
“I Could Eat You” opens today at Casa da Cultura, in Comporta, Portugal. Among the participating artists, Leda Catunda, Rivane Neuenschwander, Mauro Restiffe, and Luiz Zerbini present some works at the group show. The exhibition is divided into two parts: the first one from July 5th to July 30th and the second from August 2nd to 28th, 2022.
“I Could Eat You” unravels from the phenomenon of “cute aggression”, a locution coined by psychologists to define the impulse, felt by some people, to squeeze or bite particularly cute beings, although in the absence of an actual intention to harm them. When referring to a work of art, the expression could evoke that process of osmosis between matter and the artist’s body in order to shape an abstract concept — which always implies contrast – but could also suggest that complex mechanism that the work arouses in the viewer relating to it. The aesthetic complacency
toward captivating images is counterbalanced by layered meanings, struggles, attempts, personal experiences lying below their catchy surface. This presence, an intriguing appearance, creates a tension that makes the work complex, multifaceted, complete.
Besides the tension conveyed by the idea of “cute aggression”, the expression I Could Eat You fans out into a series of cross-references, ranging from sexual attraction to exaggerated agonism and personal competition; from
the idea of fast consumption to the pleasures of eating. These themes will unfold in the works gathered in the exhibition, that will be served in an original architectural display evoking the typical tablecloths found in Portuguese Tascas.