José Pedro CROFT (1957)

Croft’s emergence on the national artistic scene dates from the early eighties. Since then his visibility has grown and has been accompanied by strong critical acclamation. In the past few years his individual exhibitions, like the one at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation’s Modern Art Centre in 1994 or the retrospective at the Centro Cultural de Belém in 2002, have contributed to the consolidation of his status nationally, as well as promoting growing recognition of his work abroad.

Born in Oporto in 1957, Croft studied Painting at the Escola de Belas-Artes de Lisboa (Lisbon’s School of Fine Arts); however, drawing, prints, and especially sculpture became the focus of his attention. In harmony with the spirit of the times, Croft personified the return to an artistic practice rooted in issues of a formal nature that implied a criticism of the means of expression in order to be resolved. The idea of the monument is Croft’s main concern. This category, central to all European Sculptural tradition, undergoes an investigation, both of an aesthetic and an ethical nature, displacing all the predominant uses of the idea of monument over the ages. Thus, monumentality ceases to be the issue, in favour of its deconstruction, since the artist is interested in what refers to a monument’s sense of place. Due to this, the reference to architecture, and in particular to spatial organisation, configures the common axis of his entire production.

Initially, a constant reference to the iconography of death was present. A set of sculptures, of figurative tendencies, refer to the tradition of funerary structures– tombs, and sarcophagi are present, for example. The direct excavation into stone using electric tools accentuates the devastation of the materials used and reinforces the sense of ruin, of a symbol of the past.

His next phase was characterised by the stacking of industrially cut fragments recovered from factory leftovers. With this technical procedure the artist’s action begins to comprise a more rational aspect. The “box” remained the predominant figure; however it now asserted itself in its relation to the scale of the human body. The language created removed itself into the architectural sphere, the use of the house, or its substitute the hut, as well as of columns or arches was highlighted.

In the following period, basic representations of everyday utensils (such as tubs) emerged, beginning a series that refers to the concept of the recipient as a generic entity. Small objects are defined by the candour and precision of their outline conferring upon them an elevated sensual charge. This is due both to the raw materials utilised and to the subjacent modus operandi: the conception and execution of the mould; plaster coated in bronze (sometimes re-painted white), synthetic resins incorporated with white powder, or plaster in its natural colour.

In the early nineties, the reflection on the sculptural discourse was accentuated. The constituent elements of sculpting are referenced and subsequently countered by forms which deny their qualities. Plaster components interact with wooden furniture, with tables, chairs, or stools, activating areas that are normally inactive. In some instances, the parts enter into harmonious dialogue; in others, they are juxtaposed, mutually antagonistic; and in further instances, they enter into rivalry, bitterly competing for supremacy. This association modifies the meanings of these pre-existing objects: devoid of any functionality, they become transformed into volumes like those they cohabitate with. An example of this strategy is evident in a piece belonging to the CAMJAP collection. Sem Título (Untitled, 1993) is composed of a sphere set on an tilted table, with one of the surfaces of the table top leaning against the floor, the top table legs are suspended in the air and the bottom ones placed against the wall. The fragility patent in the table, and the sense of weight suggested by the sphere, accompanied by the slight inclination, draw attention to the occurring tension between stability and instability. The manifest discourse has, as its foundation, the contradicting dynamics experienced by both bodies merged into the equilibrium both embody.

The most recent period synthesises the career that has been developed in that the established vocabulary is rooted, on the one hand, in an economy of means, simplification of forms and a prevalent position given to the treatment of light, and, on the other hand, from the invocation of the enveloping space and the observer’s interpellation. This inclination is illustrated by a piece from the CAMJAP’S collection which is usually exhibited by a gallery window. Sem Título (Untitled, 1998) consists of a rectangular metal frame punctuated with mirrored planes placed horizontally and vertically in some of the frames sections. The piece proposes a play on perception: the mirrored surfaces intersect the straight lines and behave like reflecting organisms that alter the visual field– either by expansion or contraction, but, always deforming it. Thus, the surrounding presences are either multiplied or subtracted, beginning with the observer, but, also extending to the walls of the museum, or the garden in the background.

The artist drawing and print work can, at times, be seen as a complement to the sculpture, a study or experimental attempt, yet, it clearly has its own autonomy. In his compositions, a process of binary, whereby one object is combined with the next, prevails, and elementary geometrical figures such as the circle and rectangle reoccur worked through variations.

MIGUEL AMADO