João Tabarra

João Tabarra Lisboa ¶ 1966

 

	Créditos fotográficos / Photographic credits: Abílio Leitão

During the very first phase of his career, he worked together with João Louro in the Entertainment Co. project. Tabarra's solo career would start with the 1997 exhibition What Type of Contestation Are We Asking For, in which he embodied his own representation character after the death of his favorite model, João Ponte Diniz, a.k.a. "Pilha Eléctrica" (or "Electric Battery"), the 1943 lightweight champion of amateur boxing. It was Diniz whom he represented in a polyptic with his own name, presented at the 1995 exhibition Portuguese in Europe and as the main image of the Aperto chapter at the Venice biennial later that year. ¶ Sporting a black and white striped shirt that became infamous with the French sailors of Genet's/ Fassbinder's Querelle de Brest - but also typical of the protagonist of the Where's Wally series as well as of haute couteur Jean Paul Gaultier - the artist strikes a pose in front of both idyllic, unreal backdrops and chaotic, violent landscapes in which the only illusory element is the artist himself. ¶ Having worked as a professional news photographer, it comes as no surprise that photography is the primary medium of Tabarra's work. This fact notwithstanding, it is only at the 2000 No Pain No Gain exhibition that the photo-reportage becomes relevant, artistically speaking. Here, the artist blended the rawness of photographic realism with a staged, delirium-like atmosphere: a transvestite fairy godmother rummages through garbage cans. The imagination-real system short-circuits, and the disturbing incongruity that ensues are the unmistakable traits of João Tabarra's whole oeuvre. An additional characteristic would be the constant mentioning of the "terrain vague", that is, the no-man's land, the empty lots, read as both wastelands and wonderlands, which symbolize a space of wretchedness but a space of potential as well. ¶ In the last few years, video has gained territory in Tabarra's endeavor, and it is through this medium that the artist has presented his most representative productions, staging and demonstrating the possible conflicts between the individual and the collective, with, for instances, Mute Control, presented at the Serralves Foundation in 2000, and Barricades Improvisés (Improvised Barricades) of 2001. Both videos present a particular moment that is the summit of its tension, a point in time that is suspended and hence eternalize the "decisive moment". ¶ But there is also a nostalgic facet to his work. In Poço dos Murmúrios (Wishing Well), presented at the 2002 São Paulo biennial, coins of the new European Union are tossed into a well, with the good wishes remaining silent.

 

• 
• 
• 
• 
•  

 

Ficha Técnica | Credits