Voici nos Acteurs 1972

Curator: Let's discuss Alvaro Lapa's striking “Voici nos Acteurs,” a mixed-media piece from 1972. Editor: Well, right away, I see this image as somewhat unsettling, or perhaps incomplete? The bold lines defining the head… they feel like a mask barely containing… something. Curator: Masks are fitting considering the title. It suggests that Lapa seeks to expose, not conceal. He uses abstraction to challenge conventional portraiture. He painted this during a pivotal time of social change in Portugal, with an ever growing discontent and suppression by the authoritarian government. The political role of portraiture was fraught with propagandist interests. Editor: Right, and materially speaking, that bare white canvas, combined with such crude applications of acrylic and that messy charcoal-like sketch, gives it a very raw, immediate quality. I wonder what role process played for Lapa here? Was he interested in this rough quality or maybe he couldn’t have access to quality painting supplies due to economical constrains. Curator: Interesting points! The art world in Portugal back then was a complex web of relationships; modernist artists navigated censorship and political constraints while maintaining international dialogues, in Lapa's case with Expressionism and Pop Art influences. He had access to supplies but chose, seemingly, a deconstructed manner. The composition itself, a deconstructed face using different geometrical fields of color, conveys, for me, a sense of the period. It makes me think about propaganda images; a clear-cut aesthetic. Editor: And those scribbled Xs near the mouth. Is that erasure? Silencing? A comment on public speech under the regime? Curator: Precisely! Those gestures add layers of meaning; protest. Editor: In this context, this portrait feels like the mask IS the face, revealing the artificial construction of the individual under political oppression. And the inscription running down the tan part on the side also tells a story. The way all the materials speak differently of an experience of authoritarian oppression is incredibly smart! Curator: A provocative work, no doubt! Thanks for sharing those perspectives! Editor: Thanks to you, it always offers something more to think about!