Pedro Ventura Matos at FORM / Wageningen, The Netherlands

Pedro Ventura Matos / Signature Paintings
1 - 30 November 2023

FORM
Wageningen, The Netherlands

Matos' "Signature Paintings" series, started in 2021, opens a window of analysis on the use and reproduction of the artistic signature. This series boldly showcases the signatures of well-known artists, painted on monochromatic backgrounds. These works, meticulously hand-painted with oil on canvas, embody a pure representation of the subject at hand, evoking both a sincere homage to the inherited cultural legacy and exploring the relationship between identity, authenticity, and reproduction in the context of contemporary art. 

The signature, traditionally a sign of authenticity and originality, is here reproduced and recontextualized in a new setting, challenging conventional notions of authorship and originality.
This condition, as opposed to the evocative capacity traditionally attributed to images, introduces a further level of analysis on project documentation and on the images of the works.

For this exhibition, Matos paired a total of eleven oil-on-canvas paintings depicting Edvard Munch's signatures with Munch's "Jealousy" painting from 1907. Throughout his life, Munch has completed eleven versions of "Jealousy", a series said to be inspired by love and jealousy dramas in the circle of artists and intellectuals in Berlin.