It is with great pleasure that we announce Playing With Gravity, António Olaio's second solo exhibition at the gallery.

OPENING

Thursday, February 5th | 6 PM – 9 PM

DURATION

05/02 – 28/03/2026

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In which place are you, when you’re on paper? Not exactly on the surface of the paper... because these things would not fit onto a surface. They need space - and elastic spa such ce, as without elastic space which can compress and expand, these things would not be able to exist.

Departing from this play with the force of gravity, these forms emerge in the interplay between being image and and really being, between really being and being image. They believe they have weight like the things they are. Entities in performance because they present themselves as the action itself, not least because they announce themselves as if playing, in this case, with the force of gravity. Things on the way to becoming something else or that seem to already know what they are, like a chicken, ants, a mouse...

In fact, we will never know if some of these forms are actually a chicken, ants, a mouse, or if they are just kind enough to make us believe that we actually understand what they are. They are probably not dissimilar in nature to other forms that bear little resemblance to anything here. That are yet to come, or that have already been.

Figures without background, because the background is the empty space of the white paper. Images that carry enough weight to believe they exist. And so they do not represent things, they are the things themselves.

And they play in this space with the force of gravity as if it itself had the variability, the plasticity of forms. They tolerate being called painting and thus their condition is apparently resolved. And as it has been for many centuries, so it will remain. They do not care, because they have more to think about.

ANTÓNIO OLAIO
Coimbra, the 2nd of February, 2026

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ANTÓNIO OLÁIO

05/02 – 28/03/2026

Exhibition text: Verónica Metello

Photography: Bruno Lopes

Video: João Silva