Joana Escoval
born in 1982 Lisbon, Portugal
lives and work in Lisbon, Portugal

Joana Escoval, Impossible obéissance, exhibition view Lichens Nevers Lie, La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes, 2016
production: La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
photo: Benoît Mauras

Joana Escoval, Impossible obéissance, exhibition view Lichens Nevers Lie, La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes, 2016
production: La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
photo: Benoît Mauras

Joana Escoval, Impossible obéissance, exhibition view Lichens Nevers Lie, La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes, 2016
production: La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
photo: Benoît Mauras

Joana Escoval, Impossible obéissance, exhibition view Lichens Nevers Lie, La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes, 2016
production: La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
photo: Benoît Mauras
Impossible obéissance, 2016
Impossible obéissance [Impossible Obedience], indicate pathways that are feasible but always open-ended.
Laid out on the floor, this piece consists of different metal assemblages whose shapes are inspired by vegetal and mineral motifs the artist has observed in the natural world and chosen for their capacity to generate associations of ideas, the way symbols do. At the same time the work has an alchemical side: the metal is an alloy created by heating gold and copper to a very high temperature.

Joana Escoval, There is a fake stone among the other ones, exhibition view Lichens Nevers Lie, La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes, 2016
production: La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
photo: Benoît Mauras

Joana Escoval, There is a fake stone among the other ones, exhibition view Lichens Nevers Lie, La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes, 2016
production: La Criée centre for contemporary art, Rennes
photo: Pauline Castra
There is a fake stone among the other ones, 2016
There is a fake stone among the other ones, takes a witty look at pretence or sham. The very shape of this sculpture sets us wondering about its reality. Is this a real or a fake stone?
For the viewer the mystery can be left intact or solved by guesswork. In actual fact the block of granite has been sculpted using a fake resin stone as a model, then hollowed out in an invisible shedding of weight.