Francisco Tropa

Francisco Tropa (born 1968 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese sculptor and visual artist. He lives and works in Lisbon.

Biography

Tropa attended the independent art college Ar.Co in Lisbon from 1987 until 1992. In 1992 he received a scholarship from the same institution to study at the Royal College of Arts in London. Between 1995 and 1996, Tropa held a scholarship from the Foundation Alfred Topfel at the Kunstakademie Münster, Germany. From 1996 to 2007, he was a professor in the Department of Sculpture of Ar.Co.

Over the years, Tropa has participated in a number of prominent exhibitions. The artist represented Portugal at the 54th Venice Biennale (2011), but also took part in the Istanbul Biennial (2011), Manifesta in Ljubljana (2000), the Melbourne Biennial (1999) and the Bienal de São Paulo in collaboration with Lourdes Castro (1998).

Work

Since his first solo exhibition in 1991, Francisco Tropa has since been building his work around the fusion of naturally occurring phenomena, with an interest for the mythical and unexplained, incorporating historical and archeological elements. Tropa's work mixes genres, making use of sculpture, architecture, painting, photography, cinema and theater. The artist relies mostly on natural materials in his installations, incorporating glass, metals, stone, wood, insects or sand.

Tropa’s oeuvre is defined by a process of excavation, manipulating the passage of time to reveal new faces of known objects through the mechanical harnessing of natural processes. This approach can be seen, for example, in the Scenario projections, a long-standing series that merges the intricate technical elements of an electrical projection device with the mysterious nature of the origin objects, actively engaging the viewer in a timeless narrative that investigates questions of transience, temporality and transformation. Reproducing the image of various organic and inorganic objects, such as an hourglass, a dead fly, a small glass or even droplets of water descending down a thread, the devices duplicate the experience of the passage of time through the introduction of unexpected not-quite mirroring images using a simple machine. For example, one such piece titled Lantern projects the image of an hourglass onto a plaster screen, the device duplicating the experience of the passage of time with every grain of sand whose fall in unregulated intervals is reflected into the exhibition space. The viewer is able to examine the physical origin object as well the machine through which it is reproduced, and to interact with a reinvented reflection into the exhibition space.

A similar approach can be seen in another one of his seminal works, titled STAE – shorthand for Sunken Treasures of Ancient Egypt. The complex installation links three individual chambers: “the underwater section”, “the looted chamber” and finally the “Terra platonica”. Each space contains its own narrative which spills over into the next, creating a seemingly incoherent but deeply interconnected collection of individual works, which come together into a single whole. Raising questions of metamorphosis, reconstruction and the fleeting human experience, the individual rooms contain unique storylines referencing everything from scientific history and early alchemist discoveries to Native American burial rites. An assemblage of geometric forms and automated appliances, the turbulent array of shapes and textures that make up each space take the viewer on an archeological exploratory mission. Shaped by the writings of Paul Scherbert and Raymond Roussel, the piece creates a unity out of seemingly incompatible elements, such as the floating assembly of a cube and two spheres that make up Le songe de Scipion or an ethnographic film depicting a Native American building a box in L’influence Americaine.

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions 2019: O Pirgo de Chaves / The Pyrgus from Chaves, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, Portugal 2018: Performance Scripta, L’invitation aux musées, Centre national de la danse, Paris, France 2018: Le Grand Café, La Moustache cachée dans la barbe. Le Grand Café, Saint Nazaire, France 2018: Performance Gigante. Festival MOVE. Centre Pompidou, Paris, France 2017: La moustache cachée dans la barbe, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, France 2017: O bigode escondido na barba (La moustache cachée dans la barbe), Fundação Víctor e Graça Carmona e Costa, Lisbon, Portugal 2016: Cinema, Appleton Square, Lisbon, Portugal 2016: Ladri, Galleria Alessandra Bonomo, Roma, Italy 2015: TSAE, Musée régional d’art contemporain Languedoc-Roussillon, Sérignan, France 2015: Sim Não – Oui Non, Moulins de Paillard, Poncé sur le Loir, France 2014-2015: TSAE, Pavilhão Branco - Museu de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal 2014: Arénaire, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, France 2013: Tsae, Trésors submergés de l’ancienne Egypte, La verrière, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Bruxelles, Belgium 2013: Gigante, Performance au Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France 2013: Francisco Tropa, Galerija Gregor Podar, Berlin, Germany 2013: Terra platonica, Caterina Tognon, Palazzo da Ponte di calle del Dose, Venice, Italy 2012: Museu, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal. 2012: Flowers, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal. 2012: Stela, Fundação Leal Rios, Lisbon, Portugal. 2011: Scenario, Pavilhão de Portugal, La Biennale di Venezia, 54 Exposizione Internazionale d’Arte, Venice, Italy 2011: Tali, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal. 2011: Scenario, Official Portuguese Representation, 54th Venice Biennale, Italy. 2011: Literal, Circular – Festival de Artes Performativas, Vila do Conde, Portugal (with Laurent Pichaud). 2010: Scripta, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal. 2010: Farol, Natureza Morta, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal. 2010: Giant, Auditório do Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal. 2010: O vapor que se eleva do arroz enquanto coze, Auditório do Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Serralves, 2010: Porto/ Beursschouwburg, Brussels, Belgium/ Appleton Square, Lisbon, Portugal (with Osso Exótico). 2009: Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal. 2009: Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal. 2009: Galería Distrito Quatro, Madrid, Spain. 2008: Festival Trama, Porto, Portugal. 2008: Galerie Jocelyn Wolff 2008: Tesouros Submersos do Antigo Egipto, Chiado 8 Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, Portugal. 2008: The Assembly of Euclid (final), Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal. 2007: The Assembly of Euclid, Matadero, Madrid, Spain. 2007: The Cyclist’s Trance, Livre Circulação: Serralves no Algarve, Convento de Santo António, Loulé, Portugal. 2007: Traço sobre um muro, Circular – Festival de Artes Performativas, Vila do Conde, Portugal. 2007: Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon, Portugal. 2006: A Marca do Seio, Culturgest, Porto, Portugal. 2006: The Assembly of Euclid: The Cyclist’s Trance, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Porto, Portugal. 2006: Yes No, Auditório do Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (with other artists). 2006: Figura sentada; Homem em erecção; Tiro inflectido; O Gigante, Teatro Rivoli, Porto, Portugal (with André Maranha).

Selected group exhibitions

2018: Sculpter (faire à l’atelier), FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France 2018: Estudos di Labirinto. Museu Nacional de Etnologia, Lisbon, Portugal 2018: Una fornace a Marsiglia: Cirva, LE STANZE DEL VETRO, Venice, Italy 2017: O Tempo Inscrito - Memória, Hiato e Projeção, quARTel, Largo de Sant’Ana, Abrantes, Portugal 2017: The House of Dust, CNEAI, Pantin, France 2017: Vantablack, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, France 2017: Palaeolithic to Contemporary, Icons and Tools, Cahn AG, Basel, Switzerland 2017: Collection. Remonter le temps, FRAC Bretagne, Rennes, France 2017: La Pergola. Nouvel accrochage des collections, MRAC, Sérignan, France 2017: Über das Füger der Dinge - Par raccroc, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, France 2016: Herdar o Vento / Inherit the wind, Eugenio de Almeida, Evora, Portugal 2016: átrio e peristilo da casa dos amores dourados, Vera Cortez Art Agency, Lisbon, Portugal 2016: Shadows, masks and pupes from the puppet museum, Torreao Nascente da Coordoaria Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal 2015: The Secret and Abiding Politics of Stones, Casa del Lago UNAM, Mexico 2015: Anatomie de L’Automate (Anatomies of the Automaton), La Panacée, Centre de culture contemporaine, Montpellier, France 2015: Twist the real, Plataforma Revolver, Lisbon, Portugal 2015: Eppur si muove, MUDAM, Luxembourg 2015: Anche le sculture muoiono, Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy 2015: Group show, Galerie Jocelyn Wolff, Paris, France 2014: The Promise of Multiple Temporaries, Parc Saint Léger Centre d’art contemporain, Pougues-les-Eaux, France 2013-2014: J’ouvre les yeux et tu es là - Collection MUDAM, MUDAM, Luxembourg 2013: Arte y Optica, Fundacion Telefonica, Lima, Peru 2013: Des gestes de la pensée, Fondation d’entreprise Hermès, Bruxelles, Belgium 2013: L’instinct oublié, Gallery Jocelyn Wolff exhibits at gallery Labor, Mexico City 2013: Nouvelles impressions de Raymond Roussel, Palais de Tokyo, Paris 2012: Ateliers de Rennes - biennale d’art contemporain, Rennes, France. 2012: Out of range, Roma Contemporary, Rome, Italy. 2012: knell dobre glas, Galeria Quadrado Azul, Lisbon/ Porto, Portugal. 2012: Locus Solus. Impressões de Raymond Roussel, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal. 2012: 3 moscas, Auditório do Museu de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (with Pedro Morais, Jorge Queiroz, 2012: André Maranha and Bonecos de Santo Aleixo). 2011: Locus Solus. Impresiones de Raymond Roussel, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain. 2011: Untitled, 12th Istanbul Biennial, Turkey. 2008: Avenida 211, Lisbon, Portugal. 2008: Articulações, Fábrica da Cerveja, Faro, Portugal. 2008: Nota de encomenda, Livraria Assírio & Alvim, Lisbon, Portugal. 2007: Portugal Agora – À Propos des Lieux d’Origine, MUDAM, Luxembourg 2000: Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, Slovenia 1999: Signs of Life, Melbourne International Biennial, Australia 1998: XXIV São Paulo Biennial, Brazil