The Drawing Center's
HE LE N A A LME ID A INHABITED DRAWINGS
43 TheDrawingCenterl DrawingRoom z3-March6, zoo4 January
H E LENA AL ME ID A INHABITED DRAWINGS Cur at edby ls a b e lC a rl o s
ProgramI I EdwardHallamTuckPublication
lsabel Carlos BEYOND THE LIMITS
OF THE BODY
My drowings with threod were o big help in liberoting ne, in going out. Drowing is vety importont, becousethe sco/epermits you to experiment,to put things into on equTtion in o very concisewoy. fhe oppeoronceof threod come first in drowings, in books which I stdrted in 1969-70. ln 1979,I did photogrophs which incorporote the line. ln the first of these,ny foce still oppeors,but loter it'sjust my hond. I come to understlnd thlt 0 foce isvery distrocting. I purified things. I turn myself into o drowing. My body os o drowing, myself os my own work-thot wos whot I wos seorching for. When you moke lineson o pieceof poper, vibrlnt 0re0s insidethe drowing cone into being, ond becouseof this the drowing itself isn't enough. Right owoy you've got to enter 0nother dimension,move into 0nother oreo of ortistic longuoge.' H tLr te ALL.r r ton
s , e w o rko f H e l e nA (b.1934,Li sbon, througha conf luence P ortugalhas ) beenreal i zed a l mei da S i n c eth e ' 1 9 7 0th pai nti ng, photography, anddrawlng l n the present exhi bi ti on, of d i ffe re nat rti s ti cd i s c i p l i n easn dapproaches. herphysexpl The arti stsuccessi vel y ores on. scopeof sel f-representati areb ro u g hto t g e th ewr i th i nth e u n ifyi ng d hermouth,herenti rebody-i nformatsthat neverresortto the th eat r iic a ls e l f-h e rfa c e ,h e rh a n d sra i s e to A l meida t ells persona. nei ther sel f-portrainor ts characters, C reati ng f a n i nvented ca l s ta g i nogr d ra ma ti z a ti o n presented i s al tered, di s f igur ed i s constantl y p h y s ical R ather, the body that body. h e r a c tu a l n o th i n g a b o u t us " enter" p a i n te d p ro l o n g , her. or even e x tend, s h a p eth s at by w hatmi ghtbecal l eda f icA l mei da creates or portrai ts, In re fra i n i nfro g mp re s e n ti nhge rw orksasdi sgui ses Theyconsti tutfeicseei ngandbei ng. betw een therei s no i denti fi cati on . th e s ere p re s e n ta t i ons, t i o n a lb o d y In dramatior c t r agnot i n thetradi ti onal notfi cti onsbut representati ons, t i o n sp e rfo rmeudp o na b o d y -o rrather, of pai nti ng or draw i ng. a s i n the tradi ti ons ic s e n s e o f th e w o rd ,b u t,ra th e r, l e nl' vegot myselifn the studi o.In addi ti onto that,l 'm the onew ho know sw hat I' m n o t g o in gto h ir ea m o d e wh I createa comneedsto beconcei ved. p o sitio nI wa n to r wh a ta ttitu d eI sh o ul dtakeon and howthe composi ti on I w ant.B uti t'snot me.l t'sas p o sitio n andw i th the expressi on a n dth e np la cem yse lfin it e xactl yas l 'veenvi si oned . a tit r e a ll yi s i s the search for the other,the otherthat'sthere.'? if I we r ea n o th e p r e r so nWh
ti on, s t of a , andcomposi ti on-itha A l mei da uses-ofmodelposi l ary I t i s w o rthn o ti n gth a t th e v i s u avocabul pai nti ng: the di scon nect ion the tyrannyof p a i n te r. agai nst C u ri o u s lhy e, rw o rkc a na l sobe seenasa struggl e (or hi sor her l i fer epr eof the absentperson body)that spends l n dw h a t i s re presented, b e tw e e th n e m o d ea of to bethe daught er happens sel f-portraiAt.l mei da se n ti n go th e rb o d i e os r w h ofa l l si ntoanotherpri son-the andsculpandthe w i feof thearchi tect , motherof the arti stJoanaR osa, t h es c u l p toLr e o p o l ddoeA l me i d athe w hi chhavel ongbroughther i nto di rectcont act t o r Artu rR o s aA. s a p ro d u cot f th e sefami l yci rcumstances, di sci pl i nes to ,cr eat e betw een haschosen to w orkat the borders A l mei da w i th th e w o rl do f a rt i n a l l i tsv a ri e ty, p e rs o n a l l a n g u a g e . h e ro w n p haver un the questi ons of subj ecti viand ty authorshithat engages , l mei da In a s i n g u l aarn dd i s a rmi nwga y A perfo r m ance. questi on of i s the to thi sapproach century art.C onnected li k ea th re a dth ro u g h o umt u c htw e nti eth
a ei da," l V i l an,1998,5l l nsti tutode A rteC ontemporanea-E l ecta, in "He le nAlm 1 .He le n a Alm e id ain te r vie w 1996,10. n. 37,Li sbon, February in "Ar te sâ‚Ź t L e il oes," Alm e id ain te r vie w 2 . He le n a
lnhabitedDrawinglDesenhohabitadol,1977 r s in k a n dh o r seh a ir S i xb l a c ka n dw h i t ep ho to g r a p hwith t 6 t f z x z o r / z i n . e a ch ( 4 zx5 zcm ) parao Desenvolvimento, Lisbon,Portugal FLAD-FundaCao Luso-Americana Collection FeelMe lsente-mel,1-979rr F o u rb t a c ka n dw h i t eph o to g r a p h s zo tf z x z9 rlz in. each(sz x75 cm) NewYork NewYork.Courtesy ThomasErbenGallery, TheBuh[Collection, TheHomeIACasal,1982 BACKcovER Blackandwhite photograph 7o 3,1 4x 5t r/z in. (r8ox r3r cm) Courtesy ThomasErbenGallery,NewYork StudiolO Atelierl, ry83 rl Blackandwhite photograph 67 5| t6 x 48 7I 8 in. G7t x tz4 cm) Collection FundaEioEDP,Lisbon,Portugat lnsideMyselflDentro de miml,1998covER Blackandwhite photograph 7z 718x 48 r/16 in. (r85x rzz cm) parao Desenvolvimento, Lisbon,PortugaI Luso-Americana Collection FLAD-FundaEao DrawinglDesenhol, 1999 trsto: covrn Blackandwhitephotograph 33 tl z x 49 5/8 in. (85x rz6 cm) Collection of the artist lnsideMyselflDentro de miml,2ooo rv Blackandwhitephotograph 4t 5l t6 x 4t 5lt6 in. Gosx ro5 cm) ThomasErbenGallery,NewYork Courtesy
4-3
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in onereadi l encounters y a performati ve di mensi on Her e,Helena A lme i d aw ' so rkd e fi e se x p e c ta ti o nAls.though herwor k( t hr oug h e ri d e n ti fi c a ti oonf th e b o d yo f the authorw i th the bodyof the w ork),shehasneverreal and a physi cal surfaceof ly beena per f orma n caerti s t.R a th e r, s h etu rn sh e r bodyi nto bothan i nstrument generaldefi l y esnarrati ve i s presented order; m eaning in or de to r b u i l da n i m a g eT. h ew a yi n w h i chthi smeani ng i n w hi ch a ,si f i t w erepartof a dreamor partof a fi l msequence ac c o rd i nto g a l o g i co f c o n ti g u i ty a c t ionm ov es w asl ostor the l a tea ndcan' tseetheendbecause thefi l mcani ster w e m is s ed t he be g i n n i nbge c a u swee a rri v e d film it s elft or n- th e re blye a v i n g u sw i th o u ta s to ryt o tel l . s eodrk ,th e re i g n i n g l ogi cbel ongs to the materi althe s arti stuses. l t i s herethat I n m uc hper f o rm a n c e -b aw in to herprocess Almeidadistances herselffrom performance art;thosewhoviewherworkdo not haveaccess intoacts andproduced, translated Theycanseethe process afterward, afterit hasbeenconsidered the present. to the ti meof " seei ng" -ias characthe ti meof " occurri ng" a nd r ec onf igureadrti s ti c a l lTyh. i sd i s ta n c e -fro m andnot of performance. ter is t icof t he wo rl do f p h o to g ra p hoyf,th e w o rl do f fi xi ngi mages, w hi chthe arti stacknow l edges i n several texts, I n A lm eida'wo s rk ,th e c o n ti n u asle a rc hfo r s e l f- know l edge, of vari ous arti sti cdi sci pl i nes, runspar allel t o he re x p l o ra ti o n -th ro uhgehro w n b ody-ofthe l i mi tsandborders W henl i nesl i teral l materi y al i ze as a threadof horse-hai r , w i n g. i nc luding, as t his e x h i b i ti odne mo n s tra tedsra (lnhobited hobitodol, 1977),runningacross the silentsurface DrowinglDesenho comingout of the tip of a pen g a i n i n gc o rp o re aplre s e n ciet',sa si f the bodyof the arti stw erespi l l i ng out or prepari ng to o f a s heetof pap e r, " appears. om " et h i n o canbe seeni n thesew orksi n the w aytheypermi t(and g f th e m e d i u mo f p h o to g ra phy prompt)the development somealmostfictional,markingdifferof series, of meta-narratives, of briefinstants, " f th e s a m em o v e me n t. e nt " t im eper iods o A l mei da constantlaffi y rmsthat herpl acei s i n thestuRat her t hanc r e a ti nw g o rk sfo r s p e c i fisci te so r p l aces, i nj ecti ng i t w i th sni ppets of her . h ec re a tew s orksspeci fito c that space, d io andt hat t he stu d i oi s h e rw o rl d S (Dentro (a mirror foot de mim Myselfl, day-to-day recognition on a own domesticity: surprises of Unside (1983)), (2000)), perhaps, mustbetakenin that andso herphotographs or a workbench(IheStudiol0 Atelied, p lac ewher eherw o rki s i n s p i re(th Theymustal sobetakenbysomeone terms d es tu d i oth , ea te l i er). on i nti mate i p ,m e i da says: w it h her :herhus b a n d0.f th i sre l a ti o n s h Al pl acew hereI conit' sim p o r ta nth t a t th e p h o tograph be donei n the samephysi cal I t ' sa l w a y sb e e nh im .Be ca u se the work.And so it's got to besomeonecloseto me.But beforethat, I alwaysmakedrawings ceivedand developed h T h ep h o to g r a pis h th e e ndof the w ork,l i kea champagne corkpoppi ngout.B ut o f w h a tI w a n tto p h o to g r a p[...) b e h i n di t i s a g re a td e a lo f wo r k. me knowa l ot aboutphotography, that he be a profesF o rm e ,i t ' s n o t i m p o r ta nth t a t th e p e r so np h o to g r a p h ing p le r fe ctiois n n o t e sse n tia i fyou compare my photographs T re.ch n ica fol r my w ork.Fori nstance, s i o n apl h o t o g r a p h e i n termsof qual i ty. B ut , o sewo r kI likeve r ym u ch,there's an enormous di fference w i t h t h o s eo f C in d ySh e r m a nwh like somethi ngw i th si gnsof havi ngl i ved,of acti ons. I w a n t t h e p h o to g r a p h to b e a b it co a r see, xp r e ssive, that my "sel f-portrai ts" aren'taboutcreP h o t o g r a p hi sya m e d iu mth a t p e r m itsm e to sh a r em y wo rk.l t'sobvi ous to pai nti ng, a t i n gc h a r a c t erth s,a t I' m n o t d isg u iseodr m a d eu p .T h e yhaveto do w i th my rel ati onshitop draw i ng, t o s p a c et,o e m o tio n .'
gi venformby the space, r n a b s tra cstp a c eth a t' smeasurablbut e, ratheran i nhabi ted A ndt he s pac ei s n e v e a bodyas houseandhome. b odyW . em ighte v e ns p e a ko f b o d i l ya rc h i te c tu re-the astall asthe artistleansagainst a thin verticalmirrorapproximately ln lnsideMyselflDentrode mim)(2000), the bodyandrevealthe s l i g h ta c ro s h s e rfi g u rel i k ea fl a shof l i ghtni ng, a fl ashthat crosses h erbac ks, endin g a refl ecti ng w al landa supa si tefor archi tecture, s pac e ar oundit : w i n d o w sw, a l l ,d o o r.H e reth e b o d ybecomes p or tf or a " gap"o f l i g h ta n ds h a d o wth a t te a rsth e body.A draw i ngof l i ght. s iss,onceagai n,to usea P ut t inga m ir r o ra t th e e n do f th e b o d yo r u s i n gt he bodyasa mi rror'support-thi f odrm a vl o c a b u l a to ry p ro c l a i m th e w i shfor the bodyto expandbeyond, to dropout of, to spi l l welles t ablis he physical limits: over,its ...getting beyondthe limitsof the body.We lookat the bodyandseethat it endsabruptlyat the feetandthe hands.lt thesea.lt endsabruptly. Whydo I endthere finishes there.There's nothingmore-it'slikethe edgeof a cliff overlooking likethis?' andbeginhere?Whyam I tiedto thisform,why I am isolatedin thisway?Andwhy areotherbodiesisolated
6-5
ffi#â‚Źlti Th ro u g h o uhte r c a re e r, th e a rti s thasrei nvented the w orl dw i thouteverabandoni ng her arti sti crefer ence po i n tsF. ro mm i n i m a l i s to m c o n c e ptual i sm, fromperformance art to photography, H el ena A l mei da'wsor kdeals w i th a l l o f th e g re a ta rti s ti c o n te mporary profoundlpersonal y l anguages, w hi l eremai ni ng andori gi nal.
a e ida," with th e a r tistin "He le n Alm 3 . In te r vie w Insti tutodeA rteC ontempor6nea-E l ecta, l \,4i l an, 1998,55 a e ida," 4 . In te r vie w with th e a r tistin "He le n Alm Insti tutode A rteC ontempor6nea-E l ecta, l \4i l an, 1998,57
" Helena d ra w i n g si s" ma d ep o s si blwei th the supportof the lnstituteof Arts-Portuguese A lm eidaIn : h a b i teD Development Foundation. andthe Luso-American G u l b e n k i aFno u n dati on, , e C a l o u s te M inis t r of y Cult u reth
@Io.titutod"rA"t",ffi ffi "^*,X1,9",,,exhibitions ntingTheDrawingCenter's docume a series of publications Thisis number43 of the DrawingPopers, of drawing. providing forum for the study a and and publicprograms to the Edward in part,throughcontributions is madepossible, The2003-2004seasonof the DrowingPopers by E l l enGal l agher. Ad d i ti o n aslu p p o rti s provi ded T uc kP ub l i c a ti oPro n g ra m. Hallam
Director Catherinede Zegher,Executive President Negroponte, George B oar d of Dir ecto rs Frances BeattyAdler,Choirmon ErlcC. Rudin,vice-Choirmon DitaAmory MelvaBucksbaum Frances Dittmer ColinE is ler Factor Elizabeth BruceW. Ferguson lV JamesR.Hedges, WernerH. Kramarsky* AbbyLeigh W illiamS .Liebe rma n M ic hael Ly nne lr isM ar den 0rentreich Catherine Rohatyn* Elizabeth Sadaka JaneDresner AllenLeeSessoms MichaelSteinberg JeanneC.Thayef AndreaWoodner *Emeriti
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