Centre for Contemporary Culture at Palazzo Strozzi
Palazzo Strozzi
Francisco Tropa
The artist creates a sort of archeological portrait of the contemporary, halfway between the fossil and the artifact, in which stillness and movement, suspension and balance, merge.
FRANCISCO TROPA
Terra platónica, 2012
Bronze, steel
cm 40 x 200 x 50
Courtesy Galerie Jocelyn Wolff
© Aurélien Mole
The artistic imagination of Francisco Tropa combines sculpture with obsolete items from technology and human life. His works always feature an attentive relationship with the concept of history. The artist creates a sort of archeological portrait of the contemporary, halfway between the fossil and the artifact, in which stillness and movement, suspension and balance, merge. Through reproduction, expansion and reconstruction,Tropa yields an historical and prehistorical imaginary. In Gigante as well as in Terra Platónica we are faced with the problem of the translation of time into a relic format.
Francisco Tropa was born in 1968 in Lisbon, Portugal, where he lives and works. He had many solo shows, among which: Francisco Tropa, Musée régional d’art contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan (2015); TSAE, Pavilhão Branco – Museu de Lisboa, Lisbon(2014-2015); Arénaire, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff,Paris (2014); Francisco Tropa, Galerija GregorPodnar, Berlin (2013); Scenario, Pavilhão dePortugal, 54. Venice Biennale, Venice (2011).Among his group shows: The Promise of Multiple Temporalities, Parc Saint Léger Centre d’art contemporain, Pougues-les-Eaux (2014);J’ouvre les yeux et tu es là – Collection MUDAM, MUDAM, Luxembourg (2013-2014); Nouvelles impressions de Raymond Roussel, Palais de Tokyo,Paris (2013); Ateliers de Rennes – biennale d’art contemporain, Rennes (2012); Untitled, 12th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul (2011).
