Banho Maria

«It’s true that in my work there’s always the idea that we live in a kind of partial blindness and that our perceptual scope is limited.»
– Igor Jesus

«It is difficult to find a common denominator in Igor Jesus’s works. There is no single form, material, or theme that repeats itself, and his work always emerges from highly diverse construction processes. At times, his pieces originate from an experimentation with mechanisms that generate sound, image, or movement. Other times, it is the possibility of capturing nearly impossible images that forms the foundation of his work.
This first book is not a retrospective, but rather a reading of his body of work that reveals it as an exploration of energies. The latent energies within a lamp that, when lit, produces an event; the energy of a rowing machine’s mechanism, which, when activated, generates movement; the energy of a stored image that the artist rediscovers and employs. And always, always, always, the energy of the human body.»
– Nuno Crespo

«Many philosophers argue that one cannot understand Nietzsche’s thought without reference to his life.
Knowing that Igor Jesus’ biography does not define his work (as with any artist), I would yet say that his work and his life are, as for Nietzsche, inseparable.
While the details of the life remain guarded by the artist, it is a life that has been touched by death and loss. In contrast to Nietzsche, however, the artist has always found a way for the will to live to endure.»
– Sara Antónia Matos

Publisher: Documenta

ISBN: 9789895682102

Publication date: 2025

Format: Softcover