Portuguese Street Artist Bordalo II Trashes Excess in Paris Exhibit

(From Bordalo II's website)

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Bordalo II remains true to his artistic mission of exposing the devastation and excesses of some lifestyles while inviting the public "to question its own thoughts, social behaviors and perceptions of the urban environment" in his show Irreversible (May 24-June 28), at the Mathgoth Gallery in Paris, reported Observador (March 18).

The Lisbon native will debut a series of works, PROVOCS, in which he "interacts with urban elements and furniture, reusing everyday objects to offer a critical and renewed perspective on society, its protagonists and its contradictions", said the artist's agency in a statement, according to Observador.

Also, Irreversible will show animal portraits which Bordalo II creates from plastic and other waste, "symbolizing the disastrous consequences of globalization on biodiversity".

The exhibition will occupy "a raw and unconventional space of 300 square meters in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, in the Mathgoth Gallery.

Six years ago, the artist had his first show, Accord de Paris, at the Mathgoth, which opened its doors in 2010, according to the gallery's website.

Bordalo's work has been exhibited all over the world. Among many other places, his pieces can be seen in Brussels, France, Miami, Norway, São Paulo and Tallinn, Estonia, reported Sortir a Paris (April 4).

In Portugal, it is possible to see his Big Trash Animals in Lisbon, Agueda, Coimbra, Covilhã, Estarreja, Faro, Lisbon and Loures, according to Observador.

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Iberian Lynx (2019), made of plastics and other garbage, is at Parque das Nações in Lisbon. The Iberian lynx is a threatened species. (Photo from Bordalo II's website)

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Artur Bordalo was born in 1987 in Lisbon. He uses the name, Bordalo II, as homage to his grandfather, the painter Real Bordalo (1925-2017), according to his website.

"His youth took place between the hours spent in the studio of his grandfather Real Bordalo, who had an incessant passion for watercolors and oils and portrayed landscapes and typical scenes of the city and the adventures around illegal graffiti in the underworld of the city of Lisbon."

For eight years, the thirty-something artist attended the Painting course at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Lisbon, but he never completed it.

"These years allowed him to discover sculpture, ceramics, and to experiment with a variety of materials that have distanced him from painting, which had taken him there in the first place.

"The public space would become the chosen stage for his explorations of color and scale and the platform where he gradually transformed his habits and channeled his experiences in the construction and development of his artistic work, which is currently focused on questioning the materialistic and greedy society of which he is (also) part. "

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Bordalo II (Photo from Bordalo II's website)

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