Description
He was born in Maputo in 1965. And in the beginning, there was red: the colour with which Kheto Lualuali covers his canvases. Afterwards, his landscapes and actions immerse themselves in a smoky atmosphere - either diluted with dye, or with the grain and thickness of paint. A painter of the intoxicating brightness of red, with white emerging clearly and elegantly to the outside, where darkness is rarely present. Such white has an ideal temperature, maintained by the northern airs, probably even from the Netherlands, where he lived for a few years. Interestingly, in the years he spent in Northern Europe, Kheto painted sanguine, iridescent, abrasive views: as if he had folded the world in half at the equator, overlaying Africa onto the Netherlands and creating a synthesis.
Recently, in Matosinhos, he painted differently, creating figures "on fire" in a environment that is sometimes fantastic blue, sometimes vibrant green. Kheto Lualuali is an extreme and essential painter: red is the base, white is the ice, the line is the absolute, the stain is the inevitable. Figuration is a great mystery that Kheto gives back to us. To what extent? To one where there is no identity in the figures he portrays, even though they are always widely and firmly present: there are volumes, inhabited and delimited, that do not allow us to access a clear explanation for their identity.
Works
2005, Maputo
acrylic on canvas 105 x 149,5 cm
Paintings have always been a celebration of their own visibility, meaning, and enigma: that's how Kheto Lualuali presents two instances in which he drew inspiration from reality and transcribed it like a symptomatologist of colour, line, and stain. "Muva I" is an ode to the eyes and the hand that wields the paintbrush.
2005, Maputo
acrylic on canvas 105 x 149,5 cm
Returning to traditional occasions, "Muva II" undoubtedly serves as a pretext to immerse the eyes in reality and present a canvas that both X-rays the visible and maps it in paint and transcribes it. Kheto Lualuali is a meticulous observer of people and actions, always transfigured into mystery.
2005, Maputo
acrylic on canvas 105 x 149,5 cm
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Biography
1965 - Maputo, Mozambique
Visual Artist – Painting
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 – The Atmospheres - The Two Twin Brothers Collective, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal
1999 – Marruco Podja, Inquisição Gallery, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal
1999 – Phanfumonca, Arturo Boal Gallery, Amadora, Portugal
1998 – Azedi-Sonfom, Art Centre, Maputo, Mozambique
1998 – In Galop, La Maison Africaine, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1998 – Y-Grego Gallery, Lisbon, Portugal
1997 – Metamorfoses, Art Centre, Maputo, Mozambique
1994 – Cadeira do Paraíso, Círculo Art Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique
WORKSHOPS
2023 – Art Marathon, 5th Gaia International Art Biennale, Lever - Vila Nova de Gaia, Portugal
2022 – Momentum Mozambique Artist Residency, Matosinhos, Portugal
1998 – Workshop “Water”, Art Center, Maputo, Mozambique | Workshop “Reflections on the South Africa Biennial”, Art Center, Maputo, Mozambique
1997 – Dutch-Mozambican Workshop, Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre, Maputo, Mozambique
1996 – Workshop “Human Rights”, Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre, Maputo, Mozambique
1995 – International African Workshop "Ujamaa IV/Gate Foundation”, Maputo, Mozambique | Danish-Mozambican Workshop "Musicrea", Maputo, Mozambique
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 – 5th Gaia International Art Biennale, Portugal
2022 – Momentum Mozambique, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal | Manimalia, Manoeuvre Gallery, Portugal
1999 – Other Views, Fundação Júlio Resende, Oporto, Portugal | Percursos de Arte, Benfica, Portugal | Grupo Banco Mello, Lisbon, Portugal
1998 – Expo 98, Lisbon, Portugal
1997 – World Bank “Farewell”, Maputo, Mozambique | 2nd Annual Arte Feliz Exhibition, Franco-Mozambican Centre, Maputo, Mozambique | Despite the Ruin, Arte Feliz Center, Maputo, Mozambique | Durban Modern Art Gallery, Durban, South Africa
1996 – 1st Annual Arte Feliz Exhibition, Photographers Association, Maputo, Mozambique | Mira-Mar, Maputo, Mozambique
1995 – Tricontinental, World Bank, Maputo, Mozambique | Ujamaa IV, Franco-Mozambican Cultural Centre, Maputo, Mozambique | The Return, Centre for Brazilian Studies, Maputo, Mozambique
1994/1995 – Art Beyond the Taprobana, National Gallery of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1994 – Delta Gallery, Harare, Zimbabwe | 20th Anniversary of 25 April, Portuguese Embassy, Maputo, Mozambique
1993 – TDM Biennial, National Art Museum, Maputo, Mozambique | Centre for Brazilian Studies, Maputo, Mozambique | 105th Anniversary of the City of Maputo, Maputo City Council, Mozambique
1992 – Rotary Club, Maputo, Mozambique
1991 – 1st Annual Exhibition, National Museum of Art, Maputo, Mozambique
AWARDS and HONOURS
1995 – Founding member of “Associação de Artistas Arte Feliz”, Maputo, Mozambique
1993 – Member of the Artists' Association “Art Centre”, Maputo, Mozambique
1987 – Prize for “Best Composition” in the "Revelations '87" competition, as Musician, Composer, Violist and Singer in the 1983/1988 Banda Musical
Exhibitions
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2005, Maputo
acrylic on canvas 105 x 149,5 cm