The idea behind the SELO // ARTE (STAMP // ART) initiative is to produce a map of Portuguese contemporary art, in an analogy to CTT Correios de Portugal, which expertly maps and connects different points within the country and beyond. The artists selected for this first issue – Gabriela Albergaria, Helena Almeida, Lourdes Castro, José Pedro Croft, João Louro and Miguel Palma – represent several generations, working environments and research subjects, allowing for a broad overview of the panorama of artistic production of the first quarter of the 21st century. Paying tribute to Helena Almeida and Lourdes Castro, this issue of philatelic art will also contribute to keeping alive their memory and the significance of their contribution to the art world.
These stamps focussing on contemporary artists represent an important intersection between philately and contemporary art, and the SELO // ARTE series allows the public to admire and learn about the work of contemporary Portuguese artists, making art accessible to all and perpetuating the legacy of these artists in history and time.
Verónica de Mello
Project Curator
GABRIELA ALBERGARIA (Vale de Cambra, 1965)
Lives and works between Brussels and Lisbon. Gabriela Albergaria’s work encompasses one territory: nature. A nature that is manipulated, planted, transported, placed in hierarchy, catalogued, studied, felt and celebrated through the ongoing exploration of gardens in photography, drawing and sculpture. She was nominated for the 2002/2003 Ars Viva – Landschaft prize, Germany, and the 2008 Prix Pictet, the world's leading award for photography and sustainability. In 2023, she won the Millennium BCP Foundation’s “Outstanding Artistic Project” award and the Viarco prize.
HELENA ALMEIDA (Lisboa, 1934 - Sintra, 2018)
Throughout her career, her work questioned the pictorial space and the physical limits of painting. The body became her space of work and research. Her vast oeuvre includes painting, drawing, performance, video, installation and photography. The documentary made by the producer Image et Compagnie /ARTE France demonstrates the artist’s international renown. She represented Portugal twice at the Venice Biennale: at the 41st edition, in 1982, and at the 51st edition, in 2005.
LOURDES CASTRO (Funchal, 1930 - Funchal, 2022)
After a brief stint in Munich, she lived in Paris for 25 years, returning to her native island in 1983. From the 1960s on, she explored the projection and fixing of shadows onto materials as diverse as Plexiglas, acrylic, fabric and paper. Seeking a synthesis and understanding of form, she created a purer, less material reading of reality, in an interplay between time, light and matter. From 1955, she held countless exhibitions at the most prestigious national institutions and had a successful international career She represented Portugal at the São Paulo Biennial for three times: in 1959 and 1985, and together with Francisco Torpa, in 1998. Her work has been recognised with the Salon de Montrouge Regional Medal; the EDP Grand Prize; the CELPA / Vieira da Silva Prize; the Visual Arts Prize from the International Association of Art Critics (AICA); and the AICA / Ministry of Culture Prize. On her 90th birthday, in 2020, she was awarded the Medal of Cultural Merit by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture.
JOSÉ PEDRO CROFT (Porto, 1957)
His work contains strong architectural references and he is constantly developing spatial and three-dimensional research, whether in sculpture and installation or painting and drawing. He works assiduously to produce art that is deep and poetic, in which the notion of equilibrium and disequilibrium is expressed through complex but apparently simple structures. He represented Portugal at the 19th São Paulo Biennial, in 1987, and at the 57th Venice Biennale, in 2017. In 2001, he won the Tabaqueira National Prize for Public Art and the EDP Prize for Drawing.
JOÃO LOURO (Lisbon, 1963)
His work encompasses painting, sculpture, photography and video. Building on a legacy of minimal and conceptual art, João Louro’s work focuses in particular on the vanguards of the 20th century, tracing a temporal topography of personal but mostly generational references. The artist uses language and the written word recurrently as a source, and seeksto revise the image in contemporary culture, starting with a series of representations and symbols of the collective visual realm. In 2015, he officially represented Portugal at the 56th Venice Biennale.
MIGUEL PALMA (Lisbon, 1964)
Exploring various realms of activity and thought, the machine is fundamental in this artist’s work. Aviation, astronomy, cars, architecture, nature and technology in general are just some of his interests. His work encompasses video, drawing, collages and, most frequently, installation. His artistic process sits within a context of universal themes, in which art poses political and social questions about the reality of today’s world. In 1999, he took part in the “Signs of Life” Melbourne International Biennial, in Australia. In 2010, he also participated in the ZERO1 Biennial in San Jose, 7th United States, and in the 7 Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, in the United Kingdom.
