Ana Santos

The work of Ana Santos develops itself from a daily practice of meeting and accumulation of materials and objects.

Each object, each material, has in itself the key of its solution: is the exercise of the practice that allows to test, to choose, to change, to re-change, to reject, until finally meet the solution.

The making of is constituted through the exercise and the studio practice, and operates from the relation with the materials.

The thinking is pragmatic, that is, it seeks to understand the material’s intrinsic qualities and how they are solved in the artistic object.

First, there is the material and then the solution.

The materials do not have a fixed provenance; they may come from the street (found objects) or from construction materials shops.

The choice of the material is based on its physical behaviour, and on the possibilities of what it can or cannot do.

The speculative thinking questions the intentions, motivations and decisions that orientate the work. The operative thinking builds the relationship with materials. Objects work not as things but as signals. Objects are evocations of the shape: they are signals of the thinking about the material.

There is a fast operation wanting to make clear the gesture that produces it.

CV

Solo Exhibitions (selection)

2022 — vis-à-vis, CAV, Coimbra, Portugal
2015 — Stanza, The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2017 — matryoshka, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal
2018 — Timbre, The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2019 — Anátema, MAAT, Lisbon, Portugal
2020 — Verão, The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2012 — Loop, Espaço Campanhã, Porto, Portugal
2013 — Common denominator, The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2015 — Ana Santos, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal
2020 — Ana Santos & Wolfgang Stoerchle, Ampersand, Lisbon, Portugal
2012 — Une image de fou, Galeria Nuno Centeno, Porto, Portugal
2013 — inverno, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal
2012 — Trabalho, Chiado 8 – Arte contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal

Group Exhibitions (selection)

2019 — A Musa em Férias, Casa-Museu Guerra Junqueiro, Porto, Portugal
2014 — Ana Santos/ João Ferro Martins, Carpe Diem Arte e Pesquisa, Lisbon, Portugal
2015 — Afinidades Electivas. Julião Sarmento Coleccionador, Museu da Electricidade, Lisbon, Portugal
2016 — Conversas: Arte portuguesa recente na Coleção de Serralves, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal
2017 — 10.000 Anos depois entre Vénus e Marte, Galeria Municipal do Porto, Porto, Portugal
2018 — Coleção António Cachola - 10 Anos, 10 Artistas, 10 Comissões, Chiado 8, Lisbon, Portugal
2020 — Um oásis ao entardecer, MAAT, Lisbon, Portugal
2021 — Flora, Atelier Museu Júlio Pomar, Lisboa, Portugal
2022 — Ninguém. Só eu., Centro de Arte Oliva, S. João da Madeira, Portugal
2022 — Les Péninsules démarrées, Frac Nouvelle - Aquitaine MÉCA | Bordeaux, France
2008 — Bolseiros e Finalistas do Ar.Co, Espaço Tranquilidade, Lisbon, Portugal
2014 — Acervo. Artistas Portugueses en la Colección Novacerrada, Centro de Arte Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain
2012 — First Avenue: One-way Street, Porto, Portugal
2006 — Anteciparte, Lisbon, Portugal
2013 — Prémio EDP Novos Artistas, Galeria Fundação EDP, Porto, Portugal
2011 — Musicircus, Roullet, New York, USA
2010 — Open Studio, ISCP – International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York, USA
2009 — Drawing by Numbers, Avenida 211, Lisbon, Portugal
2007 — Open Studio, CAM – Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal
2015 — Au sud d'aujourd'hui: Art contemporain portugais [sans le Portugal], Fondation Calouste Gulbenkian, Paris, France
2018 — Coleção Serralves: Aquisições recentes, Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal
2008 — Enunciados, Espaço Avenida 211, Lisbon, Portugal
2014 — Aprender a Caer, La Casa Encendida, Madrid, Spain
2012 — Shoreline – artes plásticas na colecção do Ar.co, Centro Cultural de Sines, Sines, Portugal
2011 — In Back of the Real, ISCP – International Studium and Curatorial Program, New York, USA
2010 — Portugal Arte Bienal Personal Freedom, Pavilhão de Portugal, Lisbon, Portugal
2009 — Uma Mesa e Três Cadeiras, ETIC, Lisbon, Portugal
2006 — Open Studio, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Almada, Portugal
2007 — Ana Santos - Desenho, Dalila Gonçalves – Registo Fotográfico, Plumba, Porto, Portugal
2015 — AA Contemporary Art Collection, Coimbra, Portugal (curated by Delfim Sardo)
2022 — Itinerarios XXVII, Fundación Botín, Madrid
2014 — Wondering Paths, Plataforma Revólver, Lisbon, Portugal
2012 — Jugada a Tres Bandas, Galeria The Goma, Madrid, Spain
2011 — Walk Like an Egyptian, ISCP – International Studio and Curatorial Program, New York, USA
2010 — Appleton Recess #1, Appleton Square, Lisbon, Portugal
2015 — The Lulennial: A Slight Gestuary, Lulu, Mexico City, Mexico (curated by Fabiola Iza, Chris Sharp)
2014 — 12 Contemporaries – Present States, Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal