Underdogs Gallery presents two new exhibitions

Underdogs presents new solo exhibitions by artists Escif and Dimitris Trimintzios aka Taxis
LISBON 01/06/2022
With an opening scheduled for Friday, June 3rd, Underdogs opens this month with the exhibition Está lloviendo by the Spanish artist Escif in the main space of the Gallery. The passage of this internationally renowned artist to Lisbon also includes the special launch of a Dream Edition, as well as the creation of a mural for the Underdogs Public Art Project, at the Braço de Prata train station. In turn, the Cápsula space will host Vacancy, an exhibition by the artist of Polish and Greek origin Dimitris Trimintzios aka Taxis, marking the artist's first solo exhibition on Portuguese soil.

ESCIF —Exhibition
In Está lloviendo, Escif appropriates the gallery to work on the concept of space, focusing on the concept of Third Landscape developed by the French landscape architect, thinker and author Gilles Clément, who talks about space not intervened or abandoned by man, left to natural evolution: the space that remains or is taken over by the state of nature. Thus, the exhibition materializes through a subversion of the gallery space which, contrary to the landscapes categorized by Clément, is profoundly artificial and controlled. Through a set of unique pieces, the artist creates a new territory, conveying the security of a refuge, devoid of any organization or order and incarnated by a sense of disobedience and freedom. Deeply conceptual, Está lloviendo invites introspection, contrasting and questioning human interventionism in the natural world, its causes, motivations and repercussions, giving life to an underlying tone laden with sociocultural and political implications, as is usual in the artist's work.

Online Viewing Room
Conceived with the aim of making the exhibition more accessible and strengthening the relationship between collector and art, the Online Viewing Room is a format that Underdogs has been developing in recent years, having started as a response to the confinement imposed by the pandemic. Now, it is also an opportunity to view and buy, directly, the pieces present in the exhibition before the official opening. In the case of Está lloviendo, it will be available between the 2nd and 5th of June through the Underdogs website.

Dream Edition
The exhibition will also be the context for the launch of a Dream Edition by the artist. As part of the Underdogs edition programme, the Dream Editions stand out for allowing guest artists to conceptualize pieces they've always dreamed of creating, but never had the means, time or opportunity to achieve. Perpetuating Underdogs' ongoing mission to collaborate with some of today's most relevant artists, this initiative aims to broaden the artistic breadth and promote total creative freedom. Escif's Dream Edition materializes in a ceramic fire extinguisher: a banal object now transformed into a work of art, exploring the contrast between the delicacy of the material and the industrial and utilitarian side of a fire extinguisher. The work is also a metaphor for the concept of nature and landscape in the artist's thinking, who perceives it as simultaneously delicate and strong, fragile and resilient.

wall
Escif's visit to Lisbon will also include the creation of a large-scale mural, as part of the Underdogs Public Art Programme. Expected to be completed before the opening of the exhibition, it will be carried out at the Braço de Prata railway station.
Establishing a strong connection between the artists Underdogs works with, the city of Lisbon and its inhabitants, the Public Art Program has been transforming the urban landscape of the city for the benefit of all, thus helping to promote art as an experience everyday. More recently, this program has expanded its scope of action, having created a series of ephemeral interventions in the city of Porto with the Só Fachada project.