COEXISTIR by Rafael Barros

COEXISTIR (TO COEXIST), by Rafael Barros, brings together a collection of works that interweave images and references drawn from different times and contexts. Amid visual associations, memories, and fragments of thought, the paintings bring together distinct elements, establishing connections that defy a linear narrative and remain open-ended.

Memory, childhood, and subjective experience recur throughout the body of work. Uninhabited interior spaces predominate, traversed by doors and windows open to the outside. The soft tones and tranquil atmospheres reinforce the contemplative nature of these environments, while the connection to the outside introduces a sense of anticipation, suggesting the imminence of something that remains outside the field of view.

The collection and appropriation of images play a central role in the artist’s practice. Postcards found in secondhand bookstores, images discovered along various journeys, and objects encountered during trips between home and the studio serve as material for his pictorial work. Removed from their original contexts, these elements are selected and integrated into the paintings, in a process of transformation that blends personal and collective references.

The exhibition also invites reflection on otherness and the influence of the other’s gaze on the construction of identity and perception. The way we are seen, educated, and conditioned by external gazes introduces a relational dimension that permeates artistic practice, questioning the possibility of an entirely individual perspective.

In the gallery, the paintings occupy the space as participants in a conversation. Their arrangement evokes a table around which different subjects and points of view come together, without necessarily resulting in a common language or a single, unambiguous understanding. Each work retains its autonomy, while its proximity to the others establishes a dialogue among forms, themes, and references—a dialogue that extends into the gaze of those walking through the exhibition.

COEXISTIR thus embodies the possibility of sharing a space without relinquishing difference: bringing together distinct realities and ways of seeing, while recognizing the uniqueness of each.

The opening will take place on Friday, November 13, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
This exhibition will be on view through December 5, and admission is free.

BIOGRAPHY

Rafael Barros (BR, 1989) é um artista visual radicado no Porto. A sua prática desenvolve-se sobretudo através da pintura, partindo de memórias pessoais, experiências vividas e imagens encontradas em fotografias, postais e arquivos. Ao reconstruir essas imagens, explora novas relações entre tempos, lugares e experiências, criando composições e atmosferas onde a memória e a imaginação se cruzam.

Estudou Comunicação Visual no IFSul e Artes Visuais na Universidade Federal de Pelotas, no Brasil. Entre 2019 e 2023, foi diretor criativo da JD Malat Gallery, em Londres, e desenvolveu também atividade na área da curadoria.

Em 2026, participou no projeto de residência artística Porto ao Porto, na cidade do Porto, cuja abordagem, centrada na observação das cidades e dos fluxos artísticos, tem impulsionado novas investigações no seu processo de trabalho. Expôs individual e coletivamente em Portugal e no Brasil.