For All of You With Fantasies
Galeria Municipal de Almada, Almada, 2025. Curated by Filipa Oliveira
A body, suspended in midair, dives between tree branches into a blue void. Diogo Nogueira’s work invites us to take that plunge into a universe where figures lose their identity to become bodies fused with the landscape. Nogueira believes in the power of the collective and the absolute necessity of finding other, new ways of living together, of creating new communities. Elements of carnival and circus—trapeze artists and acrobats—emerge as metaphors for a world in suspension, where the balance between desire and discomfort, utopia and tension, becomes central.
His compositions, with an almost choreographic precision, explore the saturation of the image as both a tool of seduction and a means of questioning. By playing with the mechanisms of visual perception, Diogo Nogueira interrogates the power of the image (and its use in propaganda) in shaping attention and desire. It is almost impossible for our gaze not to become trapped in his paintings, in scenes that recall childhood images or cinematic memories. Scenes that seem to evoke nostalgia, utopia, or perhaps simply the idea (or hope) for an absolute freedom. We are challenged to navigate a fragmented narrative where the iconography of tension, desire, belonging, and transgression intertwine. Spit, a recurring element in his work, intensifies this ambiguous play—a gesture that is both intimate and subversive.
In his paintings, we are invited into a world where social norms are challenged, where subtle humor and the celebration of community interlace in a vibrant dance of color and poetry.
— Filipa Oliveira
Para todos vocês com fantasias, 2025. 240 × 270 cm
Para ti, uma piada, que tudo o resto é prazer, 2025. 270 × 420 cm
Sempre estiveram entre nós, 2025. 270 × 420 cm
Mais brincadeiras na relva, que é o que queremos, 2025. 240 × 200 cm
Pagas agora e estudas depois, 2025. 240 × 20 cm
Sistema de Irrigação, 2025. 240 × 200 cm
Uma ida à fonte, 2025. 240 × 200 cm