Francisco Laranjo

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Water and Light, Darkness I + zoom	Water and Light, Darkness II + zoom	Water and Light, Darkness III + zoom

".in the beginning was the eye, not the word." Otto Pacht

The French doors are open to Douro River, the smell of rain, wind and sound of the city enter "the place of painting"–Francisco Laranjo's studio. The exciting fusion of the studio, cityscape and landscape, the motion of connections between the interior and the exterior, are tangibly felt. The simultaneity of experience is undeniable and enriched by Francisco's works.

The strength of his paintings and drawings lies in the gestures inhabiting surfaces of canvas, paper and metal. They are as much cerebral as they are intuitive investigations of remembering and experiencing life and art. The scale of the gestures can be paralleled with theatre performances and yet not linked to mimesis, but rather to veracity of the act of art. One can feel an irresistible bridging between the tactility of the gestures and the void, but the void is not exclusive to the Eastern experience and Francisco uses it with fluency and dexterity. So is too his employment of colour, texture and scale in their augmentation of the veracious autonomy of his works. Francisco Laranjo is the storyteller of simultaneity, mystery and veracity.

Bozenna Wisniewska

Biograhpy

Francisco Laranjo was born in Lamego, Portugal, 1955. Graduated in Fine Arts at the Porto Fine Arts School in 1978, where he is currently a Professor in the Painting Department and President of the Scientific Board of the same institution, which is now called School of Fine Arts - University of Porto.

Received various research scholarships from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal, the National Scientific Investigation Board, Alexandria, Egypt and the Goethe Institute, Dresden, Germany.

He has made various work or study visits, firstly in Europe, then in North and South America, Africa, and also, to the Near East and the Orient, and he has developed a keen interest in these cultures, which are traditionally so removed from his original training.

Some public work , mural painting, a fresco, ceramics and stain-glass could be seen in some portuguese architecture. Several Prizes Winner.

Lives and works in Porto, Portugal.

Individual Exhibitions (Selection, last shows)

Group Exhibitions (Selection, last shows)

Representation in museums and other collections (Selection)

• Modern Art Center- JAP, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal
• Serralves Foundation, Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, Portugal
• Institute of Contemporary Arts, Kunsan National University, Republic of Korea
• Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso Museum, Amarante, Portugal
• Macao Cultural Center, China
• Museum ASP, Wroclaw, Poland
• Teixeira Lopes Museum, Gaia, Portugal
• Ministry of Finances Collection, Lisbon, Portugal
• Bank of Portugal Collection
• Millennium BCP Collection, Lisbon, Portugal
• Banque Nationale de Paris, Porto
• Porto Polythecnic Institute, Porto
• Porto University Fine Arts School and Faculty of Letters
• Oriente Foundation, Lisbon, Portugal