André Romão belongs to one of the main representatives of the youngest generation of Portuguese artists. Among the key themes of his work belongs the subject of cyclic history, the transformation of history, and its pervading and palpable parallels with the present. Majority of Romão’s work is derived from, or inspired by particular historical events, historical figures or moments in time. These are gradually broken down into fragments and particles, which the artist merges and layers over each other, pointing thus, to the possible relations, transparencies and openings between individual components/subjects, and given temporalities. The result is a formation of an unidentifiable space: a space between the past, the present, the future and fiction.
A significant element in André Romão’s practice is a strong emphasis up on the symbolic value of appropriated objects, texts and images, which are employed in his complex and frequently ambiguous installations. His engagement with symbolic language is paired with a prominent interest in the human body – the driving force of historical events. The use of symbols and of ambiguous structures, followed by the staged nature of his installations, can on the one hand be perceived as a method of communication – a method of opening up the work to the spectator. On the other hand however, it can be understood as a way of activating the body of the spectator, who similarly to the bodies of those who are not physically present – the bodies that is being spoken about, or that are speaking to us from within the work, becomes through the cognitive process and possible interpretation of individual installation components, himself a living politikum and a conveyor of history.
