On the 17th of December, the group-exhibition ‘o gato invisível de tão preto que era’ opened its doors in the Galeria Santa Maria Maior in the center of Lisbon. There were a lot of people hungry to see art in these days of pandemic. Even with the social distancing measures that were respected, we could say it was cosily crowded.
Under the public there was a youngster of 10 years very intrigued by a series of works made by me, called ‘Fake Stones’. These objects look like real stones from a distance but the closer he got to the stones the more he understood that these stones were not real. They are objects from dried clay in the form of a stone with pencil drawing on them. With this work I play with the spectator’s observation. So this smart guy started to ask me questions and with this game of questions and answers, he got more and more interested in what was shown there.
What I didn’t realise at that particular moment was that Kasper, that is his name, turned into a real fan of that series of work. These things happen, you know, you are not aware, there is a lot of buzz going on, a lot of conversations, people to talk to or newly to meet.
But not long after that evening his father send me this drawing which Kasper made for school, inspired by what he saw on our exhibition: the fake stones, the planets in the photographs of Luis Barata, the sunlight in my images of ‘Capturing the Sun’, the tables with the ‘Gabinetes de Curiosidades’, … it is all integrated in this very colourful interpretation.
I proudly share Kasper’s drawing with you. Isn’t it lovely? Isn’t that part of why we are making art?
katie lagast - blog 