The exhibition, which was planned to make use of three exhibition spaces in the city: the Kula Gallery, the Milesi Palace and the Museum of Fine Arts, offers viewers several points of entry into Sarmento’s work, by displaying works in various media, such as the video piece, which creates a unique impression by filling the whole space of the Kula Gallery, in which the exhibition begins.
The exhibition’s title, “As Good as It Gets”, is also the title of a painting that is part of the set of works to be exhibited at the Gallery of Fine Arts. This common and clichéd phrase contrasts with the elements in the painting. The three hands’ posture and movement create a strange and disturbingly ambiguous composition, under a drawing of an architectural structure that is unrecognizable and partially diffuse, like a previous existence slowly fading away. One hand grabs an arm whose hand penetrates another arm with its thumb, leaving the third hand open and almost inert. We fail to immediately apprehend those odd-numbered fragments of the body, or how many bodies were there originally.
JULIÃO SARMENTO
“As Good as It Gets”
Curator: João Silvério
In collaboration of the Museum of Fine Arts, Kula Gallery & HAZU Split
Tuesday,17 May 2016 at 8:00 p.m.