Rui Calçada Bastos
Rui Calçada Bastos’ (Lisbon, 1971) work focuses on urban landscapes, objects, shapes and situations that would perhaps be overlooked at first glance. Working with and in the cities he has passed through or lived in, the artist explores details, memories, gestures and urban narratives as possible sublime glimpses. Through photography, video, sculpture, painting and installation, he develops his themes in a poetic way, confronting the spectator with a self-referential view.
A selection of his most relevant exhibitions include: Words don’t come easy (Galeria Bruno Múrias, 2022), Inaspettatamente (Cloud Seven, Brussels, 2021), I can’t see you, but I know you’re here (Galeria Bruno Múrias, 2020), Unsettling Affairs (Colégio das Artes, Coimbra, 2019), Constelações: Uma Coreografia de Gestos Mínimos (Berardo Museum, 2019), Escala 1:1 (Tabacalera, Madrid, 2018,) Portugal em Flagrante – Operation 3 (Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, 2017), Portugal, Portugueses / Museu Afro Brasil (São Paulo, 2016), Walking Distance (MAAT, 2016), O Espírito de Cada Época (Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz, Ribeirão Preto, Brasil, 2015)), Hospitalidade (CGAC, Santiago de Compostela, 2014), Super8 (MAM, Rio de Janeiro, 2013), Par Terre (Espace Photographique Contretype, Brussels, 2012), Unfinished Journeys (Nasjonalmuseet for Kunst, Arkitektur og Design, Oslo, 2012), Super8 (Yerba Buena Center for the Art, San Francisco, 2012), Overseas (Kunstverein Arnsberg, Germany, 2011), Checkpoint Berlin (Centre d’Art Contemporain, Annemasse, 2008), Itinerários.2006/2007 (Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, 2008), Wir haben keine Probleme (Bergen Kunsthall, Bergen, Norway, 2007), Pequeños Problemas (Circulo de Bellas Artes, Madrid, 2006), The Peninsula (Singapore History Museum, Singapore, 2006), Algunas Figuras – Arte Contemporánea en Portugal(Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City, 2005), It’s Romantic not to be Romantic (Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, 2003), among others.
His work is represented in important collections such as: NBK – Neuer Berliner Kunstverein; Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian; Instituto Figueiredo Ferraz; Coleção de Arte Contemporânea do Estado – CACE; Fundação MAAT / EDP; IVAM – Instituto Valenciano de Arte Moderna; Fundação PLMJ; Coleção EGEAC-CML; The Frédéric de Goldschmidt Collection; Fundação Oriente; Coleção António Cachola; CGAC- Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea; Coleção de Fotografia Contemporânea Novo Banco; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Santander y Cantabria; Plancius Collection; Oliva Arauna Collection; CAV – Centro de Artes Visuais; Susanne & Werner Peyer Collection; Coleção Ordonez-Falcon, among others.

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
‘Words don’t come easy’
Exhibition view
Galeria BRUNO MÚRIAS, 2022

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Heavy Weightlessness
2022
Scale, paper envelope, mirror, vinyl black letter set
25 x 35 x 35 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
North
2022
Wooden table, compass, paper envelope, vinyl black letter set
79 x 70 x 50 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
‘Words don’t come easy’
Exhibition view
Galeria BRUNO MÚRIAS, 2022

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Outskirts / Cardboards V
2022
Oil on canvas
102,5 x 123 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Outskirts / Macau II
2022
Oil on canvas
122,5 x 102,5 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Outskirts / Cairo III
2022
Oil on canvas
52,5 x 67,5 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Outskirts / Macau I
2022
Oil on canvas
52,5 x 67,5 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Moi et Toi – Ne pas séparer les mots d’une syllabe
2019
Portable wooden and metal table, paper envelope, vinyl, 44 glasses
68 x 50 x 69 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
The Tramp
2018
Wooden plinth, blue ink, wooden stand, book with wooden handle,glass and acrylic shell
160 x 61 x 68 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Foundation
2020
Bricks, paper envelopes (correspondence from the late 60s), cement
37 x 46 x 46 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Ghost #4
2020
Inkjet print on Hahnemühle Fine Art Photo Rag 308 g/m2
165 x 110 cm
Ed. 3 + 1 AP

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Exhibition view
“I can’t see you, but I know you’re here”
Galeria Bruno Múrias, 2020

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
I can’t see you, but I know you’re here I
2019
Vieux chêne and bleach on wood
Variable dimensions

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Landscape for The Vanished IV
2018
Collage (letters from a stranger)
73,5 x 61 x 3,5 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Untitled
2020
Paper envelopes and vieux chêne
127 x 202,5 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Return to Sender
2020
Wooden structure, paper envelope, video projection (loop)
38 x 54,8 x 43 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Return to Sender
2020
Wooden structure, paper envelope, video projection (loop)
38 x 54,8 x 43 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
I can’t see you, but I know you’re here II
2019
Vieux chêne and bleach on wood
Variable dimensions

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Landscape for the Vanished III
2018
Paper frame complements of different qualities, dimensions and weights
Variable dimensions

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Suspension Lines
2019
Ropes, steel cables and electrical cable
Variable dimensions

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Suspension Lines (detail)
2019
Ropes, steel cables and electrical cable
Variable dimensions

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Landscape for the Vanished I
2018
Metal and glass frames, wooden frame holders
Variable dimensions

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
I can’t see you, but I know you’re here III
2019
Vieux chêne and bleach on wood
24 x 18 cm each (aprox.)

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Correspondence with Donald Judd II
2020
Spray paint on paper envelopes
125 x 197 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Correspondence with Brâncuși
2020
Spray paint on paper envelopes
140 x 200 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Landscape for the Vanished II
2018
Photo etching on sumerset softwhite paper 300gr
28 x 43 cm (x12)
Ed 3 + 1 AP

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Strangle and Struggle
2019
Stones, rubber bands
14 x 14 x 26 cm

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Untitled (Papendrecht)
2017
Inkjet printing, Photo Rag Baryta, 100% Cotton, 315 gr.
165 x 110 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Untitled (Macao)
2017
Inkjet printing, Photo Rag Baryta, 100% Cotton, 315 gr.
165 x 110 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Untitled (Macao)
2017
Inkjet printing, Photo Rag Baryta, 100% Cotton, 315 gr.
165 x 110 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP

RUI CALÇADA BASTOS
Untitled (Macao)
2017
Inkjet printing, Photo Rag Baryta, 100% Cotton, 315 gr.
165 x 110 cm
Edition of 3 + 1 AP