CARLOS NORONHA FEIO (PORTUGUESE B. 1981)
Native people of the Pacific world: dispositif XIV
2013
oil and gouache on Hahnemühle Monet printed canvas
157.8 x 130 cm
ARR

Provenance:
Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporanea, Lisbon
Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2013

Exhibition History:
London, Saatchi Gallery, New Order II British Art Today, 24 January - 4 May 2014
Lisbon, Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporânea, Flat-Pack Natives and Other Pacific Constructions, 2013

Artist Description:
Carlos Noronha Feio’s practice explores the visuals of power. In these multi-layered compositions, he paints abstracted forms over documentary portraits of indigenous peoples who lived in Oceania during World War II. By literally whitewashing these images with fields of translucent paint, the artist reflects upon how meaning is constructed in relation to understandings of the ‘other’. As referenced in the work’s title, Feio’s painting is rooted in the philosophical concept of the dispositif, which refers to the apparatuses that underpin and maintain social power. In Feio’s painting, this substructure is represented by the ribbons of green, yellow and red, which together override and confront the image beneath to challenge how history is remembered. (Reference from Christie’s)