Monitor Lisbon has the pleasure to announce Land and Purpose, a solo presentation by Portuguese artist Sérgio Carronha (Cascais, 1984). The exhibition will feature new pieces made especially for the gallery.

Land and Purpose is the first presentation moment in Sérgio Carronha’s in the gallery. The artist, working mostly with earth-based materials - some more permanent and others more perennial - is currently based in Alentejo, where he is developing a long-term project in a piece of land; where he inhabits, collects his materials, and produces his works, being the land a work of art itself. This exhibition is produced after a deep analysis and understanding of the weather, the land’s topography, composition, biosphere and how to complement and enhance what is already there. Drawing from that experience, the artist is presenting a series of work that are produced in situ and that reflect his preoccupations.

At Monitor, he is developing a specific narrative that takes advantage of the gallery’s topography. On the first floor, he seeks to explore what is above the ground, being exposed, uncovered and dried out by sun. A large mural painting stands out in the room, using a simple but unusual technique in which natural mineral pigments are simply dissolved an applied directly to the wall. Using different clays, in a striped manner, resembles the timeless accumulation of matter, resulting in the strata seen in sedimentary rock, or, somehow an exploratory movement towards the warm earthly nucleus. On the right, an artifact-like schist plaque, with delicate engravings presents the topography of the land where the artist inhabits. These engravings are filled with the resin produced by the plum tree and natural mineral pigment, demonstrating the artist’s interest in ancient techniques.

On the basement floor, the works symbolically represent the ground, the stillness, the past and the unknown. Objects are presented through the room - most of these are uncanny: fine schist or ceramic plaques, that remind us of the neolithic artifacts, as if they could be archeological findings. The ceramic objects are produced from raw pastes, terra-cotta or stoneware, collected from specific locations, understanding their heritage and composition. The geometrical patterns drawn and carved on these plaques are also transversal to several cultures that allow us to respond to a common ancestral knowledge. These works reveal the history and past of the land, others by becoming recognizable - resembling instruments, bowls, rebuilding their origin through the fragments of former tools, repurposed once again. Finally, the exhibition is punctured a wood and raw clay sculpture, that measures seven palms of the artist. This anthropometry is used to understand the topography of a terrain, becoming in this case, the measurement of the human scale in relation to Nature’s glory.