“Através do Vidro, Todas as Cores” by Graça Paz and Bruno Grilo

Curated by José Jesus

1.11.2025 ------> 20.12.2025

Created in the context of The Modernist Weekend, the show celebrates the legacy of modernism—sometimes revisited, sometimes questioned—translating the tension between ideal and reality into color and form.

In this exhibition, the works of Graça Paz and Bruno Grilo are immersed in light — especially sunlight — as both substance and metaphor. In both artists’ works, we can discern the legacy of modernism, sometimes revisited, sometimes questioned, translating the tension between ideal and reality into color and form.

In the series I am going where the sun keeps shining, Graça Paz fragments space into rectangles of intense color, creating windows that open onto an abstract, interior landscape. The title, taken from the Harry Nilsson song featured in the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, evokes the contrast between the desire to “follow the sun” and the discovery of solitude. Her paintings transform light into an introspective landscape — portals between promise and absence — where the repeated iterations of this fragmentation function like a mantra occupying the in‑between space.

Bruno Grilo explores (sun)light through a critical lens. In Padrão, a traffic pin topped by a withered sun satirizes the idea of an exclusive and inaccessible “place in the sun.” Other works, such as Atlas (which references Frank Stella and Mohamed Meleh) and Baía Mar, revisit the modernist legacy and the Algarve territory, exposing the ruins of their promises — between architectural utopia and seasonal economy. Through form and color, Grilo turns light into political commentary and collective memory.

Modernism translated modern life into new languages, and it is within this legacy that Graça Paz and Bruno Grilo find resonance: in their works, colors and forms not only echo modernist boldness but also bring it into the present.

José Jesus

Graça Paz (Porto, 1967) is a visual artist with a degree in Fashion Design from Citex and an international presence through the SaatchiArt platform. She lives and works in São Paio de Antas, where she develops a practice that combines painting, textiles and text. Her work explores the beauty of imperfection, female memory and the transformation of poor materials.

Bruno Miguel da Silva Grilo (Albufeira, 1986) is a visual artist and lecturer at the University of Algarve. He holds a PhD in Fine Arts from FBAUP and has been exhibiting in Portugal and abroad since 2013. He is a member of Associação 289 and founder of Projeto Guarda Sol, which brings contemporary art to the beaches of the Algarve. His work explores expanded sculpture, combining a conceptual and socio‑political approach.

In the context of this exhibition, two workshops were organized:

12.11. Encontro Criativo (O journaling no processo criativo) with Graça Paz

26.11. Conversa‑Performance Afinidades Concretas with Bruno Grilo