ILLUSION OF CLAY

Solo show at Hotel Tivoli

Hotel Tivoli Avenida da Liberdade, Lisbon, Portugal — October 2023

“In Illusion of Clay, AKACORLEONE tells a story where various elements come together, bringing out the narrative of his own relationship with new materiality and revealing his latest artistic focus: Portuguese ceramics and tiles.”

This artistic foray dates back to 2022, more specifically to Geneva, Switzerland, where the artist made his debut with an experimental exhibition at the Kolly Gallery exclusively dedicated to this métier, which allowed him to push the boundaries of tile art within Contemporary Art. With a personal and experimental project, the artist took advantage of his inexperience with tiles and turned it into a working tool, drawing inspiration from improvisation, trial and error, and technical unpredictability, sparking slip-ups and making the most of an uncompromising approach while achieving unexpected results. 

In May 2023, the artist joined a pottery residency in Viana do Alentejo under the teachings of the masters of Olaria Feleciano Agostinho and Olaria Mira Agostinho. Here, he was able to explore this way of working again with a similar technique and the same experimental aim and disruptive spirit, which definitely ensured the development of a new artistic language in the creative branch of his expressive armoury. 

Following the invitation to show at the Tivoli Avenida da Liberdade, there finally came the opportunity to redesign this creative journey: bringing together the results of the experiences of his past exhibitions with the intervention on the art of pottery and a last and final artistic residency at Tivoli Avenida Liberdade in July 2023.