Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão Between your teeth

Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão Between your teeth, a publication organized from the exposition of the same name, presents a selection of works that link the similar aspects between the work and thought of these two artists.
In the literal and metaphorical representations of bodies, Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão reflect about the way in which structures of oppression, the patriarchy, colonialism, and other forms of control of woman and their bodies, weave together, breaking apart peoples and their histories.
Divided into chapters, just as in the exposition, this book gathers paintings, engravings and sculptures, organized into groups of works named “I was earth, I was womb, I was a dilacerated candle”, “Memories of salt and sugar”, “We ate, we danced, we killed and we blended together”, “Echo chamber”, “Cleaning rituals”, “Extirpation”, “Sharpened Knife”, “Inside the room, outside of myself”, “Body in trance”, “Reconfiguring the sacred”, “Despite you”, “Extraordinary creatures”, “Sea, where I am myself brought back in salt, foam, and seashells”. Even more, the publication includes the record of a conversation held between the two artists about their works, besides a second conversation, this time between Varejão and the exposition curators. With forewords from Guilherme D’Oliveira Martins and Benjamin Weil, this edition brings, excitingly, essays signed by the curator, researcher, and writer Raphael Fonseca and by the curator and specialist in modern and contemporary art, Elena Crippa, along with an excerpt of the poem Poemas aos homens do nosso tempo, from the poet and romanticist Hilda Hilst, which inspired the name of the exposition.
The exposition Paula Rego e Adriana Varejão: Entre os vossos dentes was organized in the Centro de Arte Moderna Gulbenkian (CAM, Lisbon – Portugal), in 2025, with the curation of Adriana Varejão, Helena de Freitas e Victor Gorgulho. The fist exposition of Adriana Varejão and Paula Rego together was in Rio de Janeiro, at Carpintaria, in 2017, while Paula Rego was still alive.

Excerpts
“As Helena de Freitas says: “It is very interesting to see how spaces of contamination are created in these rooms. Not closed systems, but open spaces interconnected, which open for the re-reading of the works of both artists.” With that, we can enjoy a sense of freedom which is an outcome of an intense dialogue, natural and coherent. With the Atlantic as a bridge, the distinction.”

“Through the works of the two artists, we are made to feel the drama of many situations that put human beings at extreme situations, that make us become conscious about who we are, through the sharing of experiences and feelings. In this sense, the critical strength presupposes a sign of a hopeful will to change.”

About the artists

Paula Rego (1935, Lisbon, Portugal – 2022, London, United Kingdom) was one of the most influential artists of figurative contemporary art in the whole world. Her paintings originated from incredibly diverse sources, including literature, politics, feminism, popular tales, myths and fairy tales, exposing the hidden sides of the narratives. Paula Rego explored human relationships, casting a critical eye over the hegemonic order and its codes, over the power structures and power dynamics that construct or repress the characters she showed. The artist was a pioneer in her approach of themes related to gender troubles. Amongst the more significant works within this theme is the series Mulheres-Cão [Dog Women], started in 1994, and the series Sem título [Untitled], in dedication to abortion (1998-99), which influenced the second referendum about the legalization of abortion in Portugal, in 2007.

Adriana Varejão (1964, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) is one of the most important current Brazilian artists, internationally known for her unmistakable visual language, marked by baroque elements which are, in their turn, characterized by parody, paradox, tension and excess. Her works frequently dissolve boundaries between artistic registries: paintings with elaborate sculptured embossing which erupt from the canvas, or sculptures painted in a theatrical way, at the same time that they involve themes which challenge broadly accepted ideas about art and culture. Her work has brought about critical debates regarding decolonial narratives since the 90s, exploring violence, the eroticism and pluralism of Brazil’s history and its interconnections with the rest of the world.

About the authors and organizers

Helena de Freitas (Lisbon, Portugal, 1958) is an art historian, art critic and curator. She collaborates with the Centro Arte Moderna da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (CAM), in Lisbon, since the end of the 80’s. This collaboration was interrupted between 2010-2013, a period in which she assumed the position of director at Casa das Histórias – Museu Paula Rego, in Cascais, Portugal. Currently, she collaborates with the activities of the Delegação da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian in Paris, France.

Victor Gorgulho (1991, Rio de Janeiro) is a curator and researcher. He has an undergraduate degree in Journalism from ECO-UFRJ and a masters in Culture and Contemporaneity from PUC-Rio. He was the curator of collective and individual expositions, such as Vivemos na melhor cidade da América do Sul [We live in the best city of South America], with Bernardo José de Souza (2016), Eu sempre sonhei com um incêndio no museu – Laura Lima & Luiz Roque [I Always dreamed of a fire in a museum – Laura Lima & Luiz Roque] (2018) and Os Monstros de Babaloo [Babaloo’s Monsters] *(2021). He was also a guest curator of the first edition of the project *Pivô Satélite [Satellite Pivot] (2020-21), with Diane Lima and Raphael Fonseca. Victor worked as the chief curator at the Instituto Inclusaritz (2022-24) and is currently one of the guests in the ORGANISMO program, organized by the TBA-21 – Thyssen-Bornemisza Academy, Madrid.

Raphael Fonseca was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and lives in Denver, USA. He is department chief of modern art and contemporary Latin-American art at the Denver Art Museum, where he has been working since 2021. Chief curator at the 14th Bienal do Mercosul, opened in March of 2025. Raphael is a part of the curator’s group of the 3rd Counterpublic Triennial, to be held in St. Louis, USA, in 2026. He was also an advisor of the trienal Prospect 6, in New Orleans, USA, in 2024. He was included in ArtReview magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the visual arts globally in 2023 and 2024.

Elena Crippa is a specialist in modern and contemporary art, with a focus on the British art of the postwar period, with a transnational perspective. She got into the Courtauld in 2024, coming from Whitechapel Gallery, where she was chief of expositions, also she has worked for over a decade at the Tate Britain as a senior curator of British Modern and Contemporary Art. At the Tate, she curated important expositions about Frank Bowling, Paula Rego and the collective exposition All Too Human, amongst others, besides leading projects that bring together curatorship, research and collection development.

Specifications
Title Paula Rego e Adriana Varejão Entre os vossos dentes [Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão Between your teeth] **
Artists **Paula Rego and Adriana Varejão
Texts Guilherme D’Oliveira Martins, Benjamin Weil,
Raphael Fonseca, Elena Crippa
Language Portuguese
Page number 152
Publishers Cobogó and Lenz
ISBN 978-65-5691-163-2
Format Softcover
Size 23,4 x 31,3 cm
Year 2025
Price R$ 168,00