When Fernão Cruz describes how his work is made he refers to making poetry. This can well be understood by the title of the artist’s latest presentation at Rialto6: Outro – which, in Portuguese, means Other. However, for those more familiar with its English definition – that being a short, distinct closing section at the end of something – an outro is usually after-the-fact. Therefore, the poetics of this exhibition can be seen in the conceptual framework that suggests its beginning is also its ending.

This new body of work produced for Outro is predominately made with either ash or bronze. Ash is the debris of life and representative of the temporary nature of things. Conversely, bronze is of the world’s most robust alloys and has an infinite life expectancy. The inclusion of these two materials is symbolic of humanity’s cyclical existence, and for Cruz, his dislocated relationship with the world and environment he inhabits. – he is other.

Cruz’s artistic praxis should be marked by the fact that it is neither limited to specific genres, media or materials. – the artist regularly shifts from drawing to painting to sculpture. His presentations. can be vibrant, colourless or both. In this. instance, Outro is dominated by a muted palette, a deliberate decision by the artist in order to enhance the aura of this body. of work. Like many of Cruz’s exhibitions, readymades and their associations are drawn upon to implicate the viewer – for example, the fire extinguisher with a kinked hose at the gallery entrance, Vínculo (Bond), alters and heightens our premonitions. In Outro, the artist emphasises the domestic environment, one we all recognise, to differentiate between personal. recollections and the narratives of everyday people to make these works not only representations of his own psyche, but also of a culturally shared collective conscious.

An early work encountered is Pausa (Pause) – an aluminium window which inverts the interior of the Rialto6 galleries, to instead feel like we are viewing this work from the. building’s exterior. This is emphasised further by the discoloured and decayed transformation to the gallery walls. With this gesture, Cruz initiates the viewers’. investigation, asking are we on the outside looking in or the inside looking out? Close by are several ash-based paintings, the most peculiar of which bears an arm. Its hand offers an envelope and its title Notícia de Existência ou Pedido ou Recusa (Notice of Existence or Request or Refusal) is an invitation to step further into the artist’s world.

Cruz establishes a liminal territory that is maintained within this exhibition. In this space is a phantom whose actions unravel as a psychological experience, making us all too aware of our environment. We, the viewers, are witnesses to overlapping paradigms, where the familiarity of everyday objects keep us attached to some kind of reality, yet their uncanny custom creates a sense of unease. For example, in Lavar o Entulho (Washing Away Debris), a freestanding mop is stationary as it becomes tangled with a water bottle and a foot – its title is suggestive of a desire to be purified of intrusive thoughts and emotional hang-ups.

A bronze washing machine is found in the downstairs gallery, which feels like an eerie utility basement. Inside is an ash-casted head of Cruz’s father, it is emblematic of their complex relationship – If the washing machine were real and active, the head would dissolve and wash away. In this case, the bronze replica protects the fragile bust from harm. 1/2 is a seemingly soaking wet shirt which has been knifed to the wall, roughly in the location of where the wearer’s heart would be. As a sculpture,
it lingers much like a ghost or better still, a spirit as the former ultimately vanishes while the latter endures. On this level’s exterior balcony, a crutch, O Assistente (The Assistant) emerges to reveal another object rendered futile and redundant.

Throughout Outro, Cruz appears then disappears. In the upstairs mezzanine gallery, we see his final act – an unmade bed, Fantasma (Phantom), hovering off the floor. The bed as a habitat is synonymous with declining mental wellbeing and increasing dissolution with society. Its haunting and soiled state is as if someone or something has just left it following a long duration and is another hint towards paranormal apparition. Mesa de cabeceira (Bedside table) is the title given to a nearby trash can – a vessel for things unwanted – however, the object now cast in bronze guarantees its contents permanence. The other 1/2 depicts a secondary soaking garment, this time a pair of trousers hanging from the branch of a tree and all but guaranteeing the artist’scompany. Layer by layer, he reveals himself to his audience. Nude and vulnerable, he continues to perform.