André Sousa | Pince-nez

The research by André Sousa explores the artifices of painting in an expanded field of artistic practice. Pince-nez, his first solo show in Brazil, reflects the essence of the Portuguese artist’s research in recent years, mainly through the site-specific installation by the same name, the centerpiece in the show. The work was conceived for the living room of the former residence, dialoguing directly with the modernist architecture by Rino Levi. The title Pince-nez was inspired by this striking object used by the character by the name of Quaresma in the novel Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma, by Lima Barreto. In the installation, this useful and antiquated object, the pince-nez, alludes to the character in the novel, who lives the dilemma of a declining culture. André Souza puts this transition of paradigms into relationship with nomadic or migratory movements, reminding us of the importance of the community ovens in villages (also in the interior of Portugal) that were emptied as their inhabitants moved to the big cities. Pince-nez (2022–23), located near the fireplace in the Modernist Room, bears the subjectivity of a community space of gathering, evoking dead languages, butterflies and petals of rare flowers.