Painting Is Easy. Do It Yourself!

The catalogue Painting Is Easy. Do It Yourself! extends the exhibition, bringing together the ‘artist’s recipes’ written by curator João Maria Gusmão, who also contributes an introductory text. It further includes a fictional essay by Marco Bene, Dadaist poems, and images of the artworks and exhibition presented in a visual essay by António Júlio Duarte.

Drawing on works from the ‘la Caixa’ Foundation Contemporary Art Collection, the catalogue carries onto the printed page the themes and questions explored throughout the exhibition project.

This publication presents itself as both a literary and a critical device. Within its pages, the selected artworks become material for reflection, but also an opportunity for play and satire.

The curator draws on the recipe and the paradox as tools for reflecting on the place of art within a culture in which leisure, creativity and subjectivity have been absorbed into the logic of production and consumption. Through this lens, he examines the relationship between art, work, leisure, commodities and subjectivity.

Each catalogue is unique; no two copies are the same.