An itinerary of transfigurations
André Almeida e Sousa has developed his work creating paintings, drawings and objects in a variety of forms, compositions and very diverse relationships. The drawings, on modular panels of considerable size and detail, or on medium-sized sheets, move between the transparency of plans and a sedimented and deep density that is revealed through an introspective and coded expression that resides in a permanent question that the artist asks himself. The title of the exhibition is one of the possible ways to answer this question and presents itself as an aphorism, a fragment of his thought, which adds praxis to the feeling and the path of his imaginary, austere but profoundly transformative. This imagery based on a temporal intuition is guided by an itinerary, like a movement that marks a poetic, systematic drive, related to a monologue that is not absent from listening to the maelstrom of the images that surround it. In this sense, Almeida e Sousa's work is, in essence, a mediation and simultaneously a transfiguration that occurs through painting, drawing and sculpture, but never a final and finished result.
This whole process finds in the pictorial matter a very contained field of possibilities, as a work of art that challenges us and places us in a permanent search, because it is formed by overlaps, by the hidden and by the unveiled.
João Silvério
The Sacred Art circuit focuses on the old College Church, where the lush façade, the resplendence of the altarpiece of the main altar, as well as the collection of 17th century tiles are assumed as a whole, in a unique monument of Baroque style. To this is added a gallery with a diversified collection where pieces from the 16th century stand out, as well as a valuable collection of works with a religious theme.
This tour presents the architectural characteristics of past convent buildings, but also the diversity of spaces, their dynamics and purposes, as well as exploring the way of life of the Poor Clares belonging to the female branch of the Order of Friars Minor, founded by Saint Francis of Assisi.
The Natural History Circuit presents a naturalist collection that was the basis for the Museum. It is distributed over 8 rooms where diversity, knowledge and the exotic, along with different fields of scientific knowledge, are exhibited, with special importance to zoology, geology, mineralogy and botany.
The partnership between the Carlos Machado Museum and the Azores Geopark reinforces the strong bond with the local territory, which therefore contributes to its advertising, protection, enhancement, and sustainable development.
Due to the increase in tourism, the Museum has become an essential way to share knowledge, as a first contact of visitors with the Azores. In this sense, it aims to arise curiosity and promote responsible tourism activity, based on preservation and conservation of natural resources.
Visit this exhibition, entitled The Geopark in the Museum, at Santo André Center.