UC photo credit
"Art can change an entire generation" —Bordalo II
The exposure Paris Agreement, in Bordalo II, which opens on the 26th of January and ends on the 2nd of March, brings together 30 works by the Portuguese artist in the French capital, using various types of plastic found in rubbish, to create endangered animals and raise awareness of the planet’s sustainability problems .
"O Paris Agreement as the name of the exhibition is symbolic because, in addition to the themes addressed in the Paris Agreement, there are a number of other things that have to be changed, legislated and need to have goals for us to continue living on a sustainable planet. I don't even talk about animals anymore. If we think selfishly, humans have to think about their home. We only have this place to live. Having an exhibition on this topic in Paris makes perfect sense," said Artur Bordalo, known as Bordalo II, speaking to Lusa, during an exclusive visit to the press.
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Portuguese artist, Bordalo II considers that it has the particularity of being held "in a less conventional space", in the heart of a more recent area of the French capital, next to the François Mitterrand library — the space, which is in the rough, will be converted in a few months into a supermarket. Something that the artist considers "contradictory" and "fantastic", since his work focuses on the problematic "economy versus nature".
The artist developed 30 works representing endangered animals, made from plastic found in garbage and on the street.There is also a series of works critical of today's society, where Bordalo II used technological junk like cell phones or computer keyboards, to show how humans are too connected to technology and away from nature. "We have to think about stop producing so much, stop consuming so much and in this the big brands have a great responsibility.One of the most important things for me is that my work does not fall into the superficial, but that it always has something to say with a strong educational component and a present social and political part. If people see my works, it's important that it's not just beautiful, but that it has a part that contributes to a change", added the Portuguese artist.
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The exhibition was organized by the Mathgoth gallery — specializing in urban art —, which represents the artist in Paris. Mathilde Jourdain, director of the gallery, told Lusa that the works are already awakening the interest of buyers in France. "We already have contacts with great interest in parts of the Bordalo II. In the collective exhibition we held last year, we had one of his pieces, we sold it and could have sold it several times. And the interest is not only from urban art collectors, but its audience is very large, and there are also contemporary art collectors who are interested", said the gallery director, in statements to Agência Lusa.
Admission to this exhibition is free, but all works by the Portuguese artist are for sale. Values vary between 2500 and 25 thousand euros, although Bordalo II reinforce that this is not the purpose of the exhibition. "The economic part of the exhibition is not what is most relevant. I want my work to have something to say and, for example, reaching out to kids is my focus and what interests me most at the moment", revealed the Portuguese artist. In this sense, the mornings of the exhibition are reserved for Parisian schools and colleges, just as the exhibition itself is adapted to children, with the works being strategically positioned in order to be accessible to the little ones.