The second solo exhibition “Fire and Spirits” by artist Pedro A.H Paixao at Irène Laub gallery, presents the beginning of his new series of vermilion monochromatic works.
His powerful drawings embody the paradox that seems to inhabit this series: that of the cohabitation of light and darkness. Indeed, the artist’s drawings depict scenes and characters illuminated by the fire of mystery, whose origins seem to spring from both history and fable. What is history becomes fable. The fable itself becomes hypnotizing, and seems to hold certain keys to history. In this way, the protagonists of Paixao’s works invite those who observe them to let themselves be caught by the fire, to feed on the light from which truth might emerge.

Pedro A.H. Paixão was born in Lobito, Angola, living there until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1975. He grew up in Lisbon, studying painting and drawing at Ar.Co – Arts and Visual Communication Center, Lisbon. He holds a M.F.A. in film and video from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and a Ph.D. in philosophy, from Faculty of Letters of the University of Porto. He won the international Navigator Art on Paper prize in 2018, and a major retrospective exhibition of his work was held at CIAJG, in Guimarães (PT) that same year. Besides his work with other media – like sound, video, film, or the use of objects and slide diaporamas – Pedro A.H. Paixão has mainly been creating a broad range of monochromatic graphic works, starting with a series of scarlet drawings developed between 2007 and 2017. Often dedicated to Central Africa in (neo)colonial times and the possibilities of reparation, these drawings address the complex topic of restitution and are a place where things are felt and thought anew – not under the trial of history and morality but under their own light, breaking preconceptions and misconceptions apart.

Curated by Sorana Munsya.