Christina Oiticica launches exhibition “Fauna and Flora” in Portugal

In partnership with Blake Jamieson, renowned Brazilian artist who lives in Switzerland exhibits for the first time in Portuguese lands, after passing through 17 countries.

• One of the most recognized artists of the Land Art movement, Christina Oiticica brings an exhibition to Portugal for the first time.
• Christina Oiticica will exhibit 11 canvases at the Lukas Art Gallery at Biester Palace, in Sintra
• The artist’s new exhibition, “Fauna and Flora”, will be at the gallery from July 16th to August 17th
• The artist has been to Portugal several times with her husband, the writer Paulo Coelho
• The works were buried for 9 months in Monthey, Switzerland
• Christina Oiticica has exhibited in 17 countries
• Land Art was created in the 1960s and has Christina Oiticica as one of its exponents
• The American Blake Jamieson, who signs the works with the artist, is a fan of Paulo Coelho and met Christina on Twitter

A leaf falling from the tree, a caterpillar. You never know when inspiration will say hello. And many times it is not noticed and what comes from outside even annoys us. However, the inspiration is there. That’s what happened to Christina Oiticica in 2003. When painting a 10-meter canvas in a forest, the plastic artist saw nature intervene. At first, it happened when I thought she was interfering with her work. Then she embraced the idea. From there, the artist developed a technique in which she allows nature to act on her creations. Her most recent work can be seen by the Portuguese public. After visiting 17 countries, Christina Oiticica exhibits for the first time in Portugal with “Fauna e Flora”, a show in partnership with the North American Blake Jamieson. The collection will be at Palácio Biester, at Luka Art Gallery, in Sintra, from July 16th to August 17th.

“I know almost all of Portugal. I’ve been to the country many times. And I’ve wanted to have an exhibition for the Portuguese public for a long time”, says Christina Oiticica, who is married to the writer Paulo Coelho and remembers the first time the couple was here: “It was for the launch of a book by Paulo and we were staying in a hotel in Sintra. It is a city that I really like. I remember that I loved the Pena Palace, the Moorish Castle… and also the Portuguese sweets. Love all”.

Anyone visiting the Sintra gallery will be able to see the result of a nine-month nature intervention process. It was the time that the paintings made in partnership by Christina and Blake were buried in Monthey, Switzerland, where the Brazilian lives. The technique is called Land Art, it was created in the 1960s and has Christina as one of its exponents.

“Our proposal was to leave it for nine months because it is the period of pregnancy. And after that, we saw the seed grow on our work”, explains the artist.

Christina started, by chance, this successful partnership with nature, which has already taken her to experiences in various corners of the world. She has already buried her paintings in the Amazon, in Japan, in India, in Rio de Janeiro, in an indigenous village in Bahia, and had more than 100 works underground on the Way to Santiago de Compostela.

“The technique started in 2003, in France. We were living in a hotel, I had an exhibition in Paris and I needed to work. It was difficult to work in the room because everything got dirty, it smelled like paint. And I was given a 10-meter canvas, and I decided to paint in the forest. I left the painting there to dry and a leaf fell, then an insect. I was stressed, thinking I was going to ruin the painting. But I began to see that nature was interfering with the canvas and I decided to accept it.” I thought: “I’m going to use this and start working in partnership with nature”. over the course of a year and created the work that I called “Four Seasons”. I would paint and bury it. From then on, I explored other spaces to maintain this partnership with nature”, he says.

The duo with Blake Jamieson started in an unusual way: on Twitter. The American artist is a fan of Paulo Coelho and got in touch with Christina. After talking, a connection and willingness to work together emerged. It was the Brazilian who suggested the theme “Fauna and Flora”. Christina took Fauna and Blake took Flora.

“There will be 11 canvases in the exhibition, nine of which were unearthed, and one of them, transformed into a triptych painting. Blake sent me the canvases, I included the butterflies and we buried them in Monthey (Switzerland). We did a performance, with the participation of about 50 people, who came to help place the paintings in nature. They were friends of ours who work with art. Afterward, everyone returned to dig up the works. It was exciting”, remembers Christina, who later worked on the preparation of the works that will be seen for the first time in Portugal.

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