How we did Ana Rita de Albuquerque’s identity
Text: Miguel Moreira
Photography: Miguel Moreira, Miguel Barbot and artist's archive
Ana Rita de Albuquerque's new visual identity started with an Ofício team meeting at Saber Fazer. On that same day, the artist prepared a small show in this Northern Porto studio with the title "Vaidades de Lã num Wasan Imperfeito", which roughly translates to "Wool vanities on an imperfect wasan", a project we will talk about in a different post.
In this first meeting, I learned about Ana Rita's techniques and how she expresses herself through felted wool. I also learned about the specifics of her body of work and the other projects Ofício has with the artist.
From this day onwards, the theme "Animal Artist" became present in every creative process step. Barbot and Rita Cortes are currently organising the artist archive. The goal is to highlight her work's strong identity and critical thinking: an ever-present concern in the project's creative direction was to avoid the typical clichés in this field.
Within the team, the objective of positioning the work on a multidisciplinary level was clear: we got inspiration from the work's very delicate but very organic and visceral character. We also considered wool's primitive rawness and the dialogue with technology: an invisible but ever-present second layer in many of her artworks. Finally, we took visual clues from music and the early eighties' sombre bohemia.
In my process, I started by exploring calligraphy and experimented with some drawings representing the "Artist Animal". The inverted "A" reflects this idea and represents a beast's head, a theme in part of Ana Rita's work. Our idea was to design a simple logo that wouldn't overshadow her art. We also wanted something easy to use on felted wool, her media of choice.
After refining the symbol, I chose Rui Abreu (R-Typography) typeface "Usual" for the logo. By inverting the "A" we preserved Ana Rita de Albuquerque's irreverence and restless attitude. Finally, the definition of the colour palette, inspired by the dominant tones in her work, closed the process.
“It’s like a quantum condenser in the history of wool, which begins in this matter, primordial to humanity, and goes all the way to physical and sensory computing.
Amidst an organised and programmed tangle of wearable technology and felted wool fibres, I tell a story in a unique and particular language. As a kind of organic nature, where it explores abstraction and sculpture as sensory devices, affirming felting as contemporary support, an exceptionally historical, renewable and reactive plasticity.”
