Artist Statment

“Impressions Series represents a phase of my work, integrating in it, as usual, intimations of my continuous project enduring patterns of inner experience and conceptual processes as a work in progress  that is a reflection on the “act of painting”.

The visual materiality belonging to this series is intimately related in its conceptual process and representations to the the physicality of repetition/overlapping marks to conjure patterns of new images reworked and reimpressed showing an interplay of organic forms, geometric structures and colors.

The naming of Impressions refers to various layers of meanings as well as a working process. There is a display of interpretations of atmospheric/ psychological imprint: I approach the paintings in this series as images/impressions that allude also to particular moods through their shifting complexions, being marks from Memory and Nature”.

Isabel Pavão

Exhibitions

Selected Solo Shows

2022“Art All Night “, participating with her solo show at the Embassy of Portugal in Washington DC, September 24
Exhibition and Book launch “Porto/Paris/New York”, Dsgnrr Gallery, New York, USA
Exhibition and Book launch “Porto/Paris/New York”, Museum Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Amarante, Portugal.
 Exhibition and Book launch “Porto/Paris/New York”, Embassy of Portugal in Washington DC, USA.
 Exhibition and Book launch “Porto/Paris/New York”, Sociedade Nacional de Belas Artes, Lisbon, Portugal.
2021 Exhibition and Book launch “Porto/Paris/New York”, Cooperativa Árvore Gallery, Porto, Portugal
 Book Launch and exhibition “The Heart is a Drowning Object”, New Dominion Bookshop and co-sponsored by the Virginia center for the Book, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
 Virtual Portuguese – American Art Gallery, launched During PALCUS National Conference Online Gallery is a Collaboration Between, PALCUS, the Portugal-US Chamber of Commerce and the Embassy of Portugal, with the support of FLAD.
 Book Launch and exhibition “The Heart is a Drowning Object”, New Dominion Bookshop and co-sponsored by the Virginia center for the Book, Charlottsville, VA, USA.
2020 Book Launch and exhibition “The Heart is a Drowning Object”, iBook Apple store, New York, USA
2017 “Ten Impressions of Rose and Sea”, exhibition at Fralaes Cultural Center, Portugal. “Ten Impressions of Rose and Sea”, exhibition at Cinema Arts Centre Gallery, Huntington, NewYork.

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Selected Works

Recent Series

Impression Series

View all Selected Works

Art Fairs

2004 ARCO 2004, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
2003 ARCO 2003, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
2002 ARCO 2002, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
ARTE SANTANDER 2002, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Santander, Spain.
ARTE LISBOA 2002, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Lisbon, Portugal.
2001 ARCO 2001, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
FORO SUR, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Cáceres, Spain.
ART COLOGNE 2001, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Cologne, Germany.
FAC 2001, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Lisbon, Portugal.
2000 ARCO 2000, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
MARCA MADEIRA 97, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Funchal, Madeira, Portugal.
ART COLOGNE 2000,Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Cologne, Germany.
FAC 2000, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Lisbon, Portugal.
1999 ARCO 99, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
FAC 99, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Lisbon, Portugal.
1998 ARCO 98, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
FAC 98, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Lisbon, Portugal.
1997 ARCO 97, Contemporary Art Fair Galeria Fernando Santos, Madrid.
Fórum Atlântico de Arte Contemporânea, Gallery Fernando Santos, Corunha, Spain.
FAC 97, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Lisbon, Portugal.
1996 ARCO 96, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Madrid, Spain.
FIAC 96, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Paris, France.
1995 Contemporary Art Fair, Arte Jovem, Won Painting category award, Fórum da Maia, Portugal.
FIAC 95, Contemporary Art Fair, Gallery Fernando Santos, Paris, France.
Fórum Atlântico of Contemporary Art, Gallery Fernando Santos, Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
1994 FIAC 94, Contemporary Art Fair, Paris, France.
1992 ARCO 92, Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid, Spain.
1990 Contemporary Art Fair of Hannover, Hannover, Germany

Editions

Biography

Isabel Pavão graduated in Fine Arts from the Fine Arts Academy of Porto, in Portugal, in 1984. Grant from the Portuguese Government for research and artistic project in Paris, France.

Completed a Master of Arts /Diplôme d’Études Approfondies Artistiques at Université Paris VIII – St. Dennis, in 1988 and presented the “Thèse de Troisième Cycle” towards a Ph.D. in contemporary art. Research towards a doctorate degree in Contemporary Art in the Art Department at New York University with a grant from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Luso-American Foundation. Holds a Doctor of Arts from New York University (1994).

Isabel Pavão lives and works in New York since 1990.

Exhibits her work in New York City, and in many museums and galleries all over the world. Participates often as an invited artist as well as a guest professor in Universities, Art Schools and Museums. She presents on contemporary art, on art projects dealing with her own work, pedagogical issues and aesthetics.

She was Creative Director of the TV program Healing Waters and Baths of Europe, Board of Directors of the Cinema Arts Center, NY, Advisory Board of Directors of Arte Institute. She is Counselor of the Portuguese Diaspora Council.

Higher Education

1990-94 Ph.D. Arts, New York University
1986-88 Master in Arts, University of Paris VIII
1978-83 Bachelor of Fine Arts; Post Graduation, University of Porto

Additional Higher Education

2019 Institutional Apparatuses – The museum as a form, James Gallery, Graduate Centre Cuny, New York.
2010-11 Aesthetics of Deskilling, The Graduate Center CUNY.
2008-09 Fundraising for non-profit Organizations, Adelphi University.
 Board of Directors Workshop for non-profit organizations, Adelphi University.
2007 Topics in Modern Art: The Postwar Years, The Graduate School University Center, CUNY.
2006 Art Methods of Research; Selected Topics in Modern Art, Graduate School University Center, CUNY.
 Topics in Contemporary Art, Graduate School University Center, CUNY.

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Links

Bibliography

Recent publication

Paintings “Porto/Paris/New York”, — Introduction and edited by Laura Castro, Published by Cooperativa Arvore, Porto, May 2020

Isabel Pavão Pintura Painting Porto - Paris - New York Laura Castro - Coordenação e Introdução
Isabel Pavão Pintura Painting Porto – Paris – New York Laura Castro – Coordenação e Introdução

Artist’s Proof Editions — The Heart Is a Drowning Object

Cover and Article in Cove Magazine

Specific Bibliography on my Work and my Publications (alphabetical order)

Books And Catalogues:

Almeida, Bernardo Pinto de,
Sem Título, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Fluxus, Porto, February 1990.
Portuguese Painting séc. XX, Ed. Lello & Irmão, Porto, January 1993
I.P.- 2000, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Fernando Santos, Porto, November 1996.
Isabel Pavao’s Suspended Screens, Porto, January 2015.
Barrias, Jose,
She Who Loves Transforming Shapes, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Fernando Santos, April 2005
Coloquio Letras, invited artist, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, September 2014.
Castro Laura,
“Porto/Paris/New York – The steps of Isabel Pavao”, Introduction and edition, in book published – “Isabel Pavão: Porto/Paris/New York” by Cooperativa Arvore, Porto, May 2020.
Chicó, Sílvia,
Paintings by Isabel Pavão, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Leal Senado de Macao, Macao, April 1996.
Croce, Alexander,
New York/Americana Series, published in solo show catalog, Gallery 750, New York, May 2006.
Decir del Agua, poetry publication, artist invited, November 2007.
Diehl, Gaston,
Trois Peintres Portugais à Paris, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Renoir, Paris, November 1989.
Fernandes, Maria João,
The Perspective of Time in the painting of Isabel Pavão, published in solo exhibition catalog by Cooperativa Árvore, Porto, 1987. Also published in The Arts Paper, January 1988.
Shape and Desire, published in the “Arts Paper”, Lisbon, March 1990.
Writing Vestiges, published in “Arts Paper”, Lisbon, February 1995.
França, Carlos,
Fluctuations, published in a group exhibition catalog by  Gallery Fluxus, Porto, June 1989.

Gil, José,
The Visual Echo, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Fernando Santos, Porto, October 2000.

Glucksmann, Christine Buci,
The Pictorial Aura of Vestiges, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Fluxus, Porto, February 1990.
Cartographies or Icartographies, published book for Laalit Kala Akademy, New Delhi, India, 1998.

Hatherly, Ana,
Ichonology of Abstraction, published in solo exhibition catalog by Gallery Fernando Santos, Porto, January 1995.

Judice, Nuno and Isabel Pavao,
“Ten Impressions of Rose and Sea”, book published in Portuguese/French/English by Pagine D’Arte, Lugano, Switzerland, April 2016.

Lamb, Charles,
Cartographies, published in solo exhibition catalog by Conjunto Cultural da Caixa, Gallery Newter Michelon, October 2005, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Lawrence, Eduard Mutt,
Palimpsest Strategy, Arts & Auctions Magazine, n.º 25, year 6, October/November 2002.

Pavao, Isabel,
“The Heart is a Drowning Object”, in collaboration with Katherine Vaz, Apple Book, published by Artist’s Proof Editions, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA, October 2019.
Isabel Pavão, book published in solo exhibition by Gallery Bertrand at
Chiado, Edition Bertrand, Lisbon, November 1988.
Impulse and Strategy in “Vestiges series”: an Examined Project, Doctoral Dissertation published by New York University, New York, May 1994.
Psyche Boundaries, Exhibition Catalog, New York, February 2007.
Cartography of the Feminine, published in book “Portuguese Women in the US”, by Arte Institute, New York, November, 2013
“Ten Impressions of Rose and Sea”, in collaboration with Nuno Judice, book published in Portuguese/French/English by Pagine D’Arte, Lugano, Switzerland, April 2016.

Peyré, Yves,
Meeting in the Utopia of Certainity, postface to the book “Ten Impressions of Rose and Sea”, book published in Portuguese/French/English by Pagine D’Arte, Lugano, Switzerland, April 2016.

Pinto, António Cerveira,
Los Angeles, published in solo exhibition catalog by Museum of Natural History, Lisbon, May 1993.

Sabino, Amadeu Lopes, The Venice Blue, published in solo exhibition catalog by Caixa Geral de Depósitos, Paris, 1989. Text published in Arts & Literature Journal, March 1989.

Videos

Latest videos

Porto Canal Interview
RTP (portuguese state TV) Interview