Square Root - Sara Bichão

Square Root, 2024

Life on brakes, 2022, fabric, wood, rope, rubber, metal, shells, stone, marker, and acrylic paint, 50 x 35 x 10 cm

Raia, 2018, wood, jersey fabric (and others), permanent ink, cord and peach kernels, 210 × 135 × 10 cm

Square Root, 2024, exhibition view at Appleton, Lisbon

Horse’s Back, 2019, stainless steel, car seat belt, acrylic
paint, 338 × 7 × 40 cm

The Mouth of Truth, 2021, fabric, wood, acrylic paint, crayon, drago blood (Dracaena draco), cotton, string,
150 × 70 × 20 cm

Nexus, 2016, carpet, canes, string, concrete, acrylic paint and nails, 10 x 20 x 200 cm

Time, 2018, fishing float and fabric, 30 Ø 26 cm

Composition on Deep Red I,II,III, 2018, jersey fabric, cotton string, acrylic paint, wood and nails, each 75 × 70 cm

Square Root, curated by Luísa Especial, is an exhibition that explores drawing as a central, polymorphic practice in Sara Bichão’s work, bringing into dialogue fifteen years of production marked by animism, verticality, and tensions between elevation and gravity.

The project later gave shape to the publication Raiz Quadrada, a book that expands and contextualises the exhibition through critical essays and continued reflection on the artist’s practice.

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Sara Bichão’s working process binds with emotional channels: to heal, to purge, to perpetuate, to play. The works are sculptural with a chromatic atmosphere specific to its own, which at times, are activated by the artist through performative actions. The materials used are often collected/offered/stolen, or come from other recycled and organic resources. More recently, Bichão has also been exploring experimental writing.

Sara Bichão is currently developing a long-term collaboration with La S Grand Atelier – Art Brut et Contemporain, in Belgium.

She was an artist-in-residence at Residency Unlimited (New York, USA) and Finisterrae (Ouessant, FR) in 2022, and has attended other residencies over the past years including: Porta 33 (2020, Madeira, Portugal); Cité Internationale des Arts (2019, Paris, FR); Artistes en Résidence (2017, Clermont Ferrand, FR). She received scholarships from the French Institute (2019, 2022), the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2014) and the Luso-American Foundation (2022).

A selection of her solo shows include: Square Root, Appleton (2024, Lisbon); Diver’s Flight at Galeria Filomena Soares (2024, Lisbon); Lightless, Serralves Foundation, (2024, Porto); Before I Get Sick at MEEL, Press (2021, Lisbon); What is the thing, What is it at Galeria Filomena Soares (2020, Lisbon); Find me, I kill you at CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (2018, Lisbon); Coastal at Barbara Davis Gallery (2017, Houston); My Sun Cries at Portuguese Foundation of Communications (2016, Lisbon); Somebody’s Address at Rooster Gallery (2014, New York).

Some of her past group shows include: Carlos Bunga. Habitar a Contradição, CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (2025, Lisbon); Sous nos ciels, BPS22 (2025, Belgium); Xerazade, a Interminável Coleção do CAM, CAM – Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (2025, Lisbon); Lucid Reverie, Porto Municipal Gallery (2025, Porto); Diver’s Flight, Galeria Filomena Soares (2024, Lisboa); Désordres at Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (2024, France); Between 58 and 131 infinitely, Galerie Martin Janda (Vienna, 2023); Casa Conti – Ange Leccia (2023, Corsica); Slow Gala at 68 Art Institute (2022, Copenhagen); Twin Islands at Passerelle Centre d’art contemporain (2022, France); (2022) Traverser la nuit: Works From the Antoine de Galbert Collection at Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2022, Portugal); Performance 0 at BoCA – Biennial of Contemporary Arts (2021, Portugal); Clorophilia at Porta33 (2021, Portugal); Storytelling at Musée d’art contemporain de Lyon (2019, France); Un pyjama pour deux at Passages Centre for Contemporary Art in Troyes (2019, France); CHAMA at Atelier-Museu Júlio Pomar (2018, Portugal); What I am at Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (2017, Portugal); }{ { } at Diagrama (2015, Mexico); 2015) Eccentric Exercise II at Kulturni Centar Beograda (2015, Serbia); Soundless Harmonies at Rita Urso Gallery (2014, Italy); Extending The Line at Arevalo Gallery (2012, USA).

Bichão was selected for the FLAD Drawing Prize (2021), Anteciparte’09 (2009), Fidelidade Mundial – Jovens Pintores (2009), BPI – FBAUL (2008).

Her work is part of art collections such as: Fundación ARCO, Antoine de Galbert Collection, France; CACE (State’s Collection of Contemporary Art); FLAD (Luso American Foundation); PLMJ Foundation; EDP – MAAT Foundation; Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation; Carmona e Costa Foundation; Serralves Foundation, Porto, Portugal; MidFirst Bank Collection, Arizona, USA.

CV

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