We continue our series of previews for Nuart Aberdeen's 2024 edition in A Portfolio with the works of Lisbon, Portugal's Wasted Rita. She has always been on our radar, with her incredibly witty and personal messages, confessional style declarations placed across fine art, public art projects, neon works and other site-specific works.
Portuguese artist (b. 1988) has been developing a critical and particularly confessional practice that explores her love - hate relationship with life and the surrounding world. The self-styled “natural born agent provocateur” likes to think, write and draw, pouring forth little gems of sarcastic wisdom dipped in acid that reflect an unconventional upbringing in a Catholic school to the sound of Black Flag. Making use of a variety of media – including sculptural objects, installation, painting, drawing, and writing – her unique voice pours forth her mordant observations and poetic invectives on human behaviour and contemporary culture. Since 2011, she has been presenting her work in a variety of contexts, including solo and group exhibitions in galleries, institutions and art events in various countries, such as at idrawalot (Berlin, 2013), CAA – Centre for Art and Architecture Affairs (Guimarães, 2014), Underdogs Gallery (Lisbon, 2015, 2016, 2017), Dismaland (Weston-super-Mare, 2015), Bien Urbain Festival (Besançon, 2016), Artgang gallery (Montreal, 2016), Festival Iminente (Oeiras 2016, 2017; London, 2017), WTF gallery (Bangkok, 2017), MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Lisbon, 2018), and the Outdoor Festival di Roma (Rome, 2018), among many others.
