The Water Museum in Lisbon presents from April 21st until June 30 “Reflectant Universe”, a retrospective of the work of Angel Orensanz. The show includes 120 drawings and paintings with pieces done in Toronto in the 1990’s and pieces signed in Paris this past month of February. There are three sculpture pieces in neon built in Lisbon; twelve fabric sculptures in a subdued hue, six digital tapestries (“Burning Universe”) premiered in Venice as well as a collection of Orensanz/Cameron videos loaned by the Film and Video Library of MoMa, New York.
The open spaces of the Museum, in an ivory alabaster, are brought together by suspended pieces reflected over the waters of the pool. The wall paintings reflect ostensibly under the brightness of downtown Lisbon light that filters through the basilica-like windows. During the opening, sculptor Orensanz commented that he had directed the installation of the show as a “planetarium”, “like a system extremely complex and harmonious at the same time, in which the distances between the bodies, and the colors, their orbits and positions keep very precise relationships. A central role of each element is its interaction with the central mass of water and its reflection over the vaulted ceilings. Everything in the show moves around the light. Light is the main sculptural component. Through the mass of water in the center of the room everything becomes reflected light in motion.”
The exhibition will be open until June 30 and is expected to be seen by several tens of thousands of visitors. A catalogue is being published and it will be available by May 11. It contains articles by Margarida Ruas, the curator, Alexander Borovsky, curator of contemporary art at the Ludwig/ Russian Museum of St. Petersburg (Russia) and the Canadian art writer and curator from Montreal, John Grande. This catalogue includes a long series of pictures of the show itself. The text is in Portuguese and English, and is about 170 page long.
Video work of the exhibition can be seen 24 hours a day in the Internet, at www.orensanz.tv, as well as materials about the entire work of Angel Orensanz.
Angel Orensanz “Reflectan Universe”
Museum of the Water, Amoreira.
Lisbon 1170-912 Portugal
Tel. 35-1 218100260.
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