Exhibition “High tide. Low tide. The time and space in between” by Jason McGlade and Ricardo Cruzes
Opening: March 15th at 6pm
Patent until: April 12, 2025
Location: LAC – Creative Activities Laboratory
Price: Free entry
Synopsis
Jason McGlade and Ricardo Cruzes
Collaboration and artistic residency at LAC – Laboratório de Actividades Criativas Lagos/Portugal, from March 25 to April 7, 2024
The artistic residency, as planned, occurred organically, having evolved according to the availability and feedback of the communities that welcomed us, namely the “Índios da Meia Praia”, the ones who play golf and the others, oyster producers, and fishermen who also work in maritime-tourist activities. The collaborative process involved the creation of sculptures by Ricardo, before and during the residency, which were used in some of the photographic compositions, alone or as props. The images made by Jason followed the line that characterizes his body of work, with 100% analog
equipment, namely a polaroid camera from the seventies, which records a sequence of 8 images, originally created so that golfers could record and correct their swing. This equipment was changed to allow recording on large format film, in black and white.
The idea of artistically exploring the tides as if it were a sand clock, basing the dialogue between two artists on the conditioning of a time that has different spaces, is very comprehensive in its limitation. There are high tides and low tides. There are big tides and small tides. And there is the greatest of tides. Just as there are the greatest of humans. It is at this intersection between the certainty of science and the poetry of humans that Jason McGlade and Ricardo Cruzes meet to create. Like the tides, they also belong to the sun and the moon, they are themselves pressured by the philosophy of art, to ask, in this time, and in this space, who are the greatest humans. Who are the humans who will be the point of balance, and the structure, of their sculptures and pictures? People are the guarantee of the continuity of their artistic work, just as the sun and the moon guarantee the continuity of the tides. A great advantage of people, and especially of older humans, is their ability to communicate and tell in a special way, full and empty stories, like the tides, truths, and lies, like in poetry and art, isolating moments that perpetuate themselves. In short, the action that takes place in this collaboration is to definitively freeze other people’s moments, in the time and space of the tides, and because the artists are confidants and directors of these moments, they dare to sign their authorship, from a non-documentary perspective, but artistic, sensorial and poetic.
Biographies
JASON MCGLADE (UK)
JASON MCGLADE IS A PHOTOGRAPHER AND CREATIVE DIRECTOR WELL KNOWN FOR HIS UNUSUAL APPROACH TO PHOTOGRAPHY
He studied Documentary Photography at Newport University South Wales and Oliviero Toscani’s acclaimed creative lab Fabrica in Treviso, Italy. He created several advertising campaigns for fashion clients such as Etro and Diesel and has been published all over the world in cutting-edge publications. His editorial work inspired him to create his own magazine – Freestyle Magazine. The four issues of the round magazine that fit inside a frisbee were published in collaboration with designers including Eley Kishimoto, Paul Smith and Matthew Williamson and have become much sought-after design objects. As a photographer, McGlade predominantly shoots analogue. Spending plenty of time in his own darkroom, he explores photographic techniques, experiments with out-dated film and integrates handmade elements. The artistic as well as the practical process of image making are key to his practice.
RICARDO CRUZES (PT)
RICARDO CRUZES IS A DESIGNER AND VISUAL ARTIST WHO EXPLORES DIVERSE IMAGETIC UNIVERSES, INVESTIGATING POPULAR AND SOCIAL COMPLICITIES BUT ALSO THE ANTAGONISMS OF DAILY LIFE
He graduated in Painting from ARCA in Coimbra and, after completing his 5-year degree, studied web design for a year at ETIC Lisbon. Serving as director and designer in his design and software companies, he implemented projects for clients such as BP-British Petroleum, Banco Santander, Montez Champalimaud, and J. Walter Thompson. The website he designed for the National Museum of Archaeology was UNESCO-awarded (1st place worldwide in the Museums and Heritage category). Balancing between conceptually simple approaches with relatively direct messages and intuitively extravagant interventions, Cruzes engages with color, drawing, and scale, often collaborating with other artists. He is a resident artist at LAC-Laboratório de Atividade Criativas in Lagos and co-curator of the exhibitions promoted annually by this collective in Portugal. Collaborative projects include “Cruzes + Vargas = 3” (Portugal <> Kuwait) with the Architect Rui Vargas, “Hyperactive Memory Ruins” (Portugal <> Norway) with the sculptor Joel Arantes, and “HighTide, Low Tide. The time and space in between” with Jason Mcglade.
