Underdogs opens the doors to the provocative universe of Wasted Rita with an exhibition of new works
On Friday, March 31, Underdogs opens The desperation of the desperate desperately despairing for this desperation to heal, the new solo show by Wasted Rita, which cements the long collaboration between the artist and this cultural platform. Featuring unpublished works, it occupies both exhibition spaces at the Gallery in Marvila, also counting on the launch of a limited edition.
The desperation of the desperate desperately despairing for this desperation to heal portrays the social, cultural and political context in which it was created. Overcoming the despair that the artist felt in the face of the housing crisis in Lisbon, combined with the challenge of finding herself in the middle of the creation process, Wasted Rita invites us to enter into a personal experience that in turn portrays an increasingly universal reality.
To deal with the enormous pressure of being evicted from her home, the artist took refuge in reality shows and influencer culture, which she assimilates both as sources of escapism and as objects of study and fascination: indicators of a human nature expressed in the context of an increasingly polarized and alienated contemporaneity.
Through her unique aesthetics and a critical and intimate sense that explores her love-hate relationship with life and the world around her, the artist confronts us with her fears, anxieties, frustrations and clashes with the absurd, with works in common formats such as drawings, paintings and LED installations, as well as work on new media such as sculptures created through 3D printing. The exhibition also includes an immersive virtual reality experience, something unprecedented in the artist's work, sending us to an idyllic setting, but which eventually begins to reveal imperfections, plunging us into a bucket of cold water of reality.
Wasted Rita
The Portuguese artist and illustrator Wasted Rita (b. 1988) has been developing a critical and particularly intimate practice that explores her love-hate relationship with life and the world around her. The self-confessed “cream provocateur” likes to think, write and draw, giving life to little jewels of sarcastic wisdom soaked 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 – his unique voice shapes his scathing observations and poetic invectives on human behavior and contemporary culture. Since 2011, he has presented his work in a variety of contexts, including individual and group exhibitions in galleries, institutions and artistic events in several countries, such as idrawalot (Berlin, 2013), CAA – Center for Art and Architecture Affairs ( Guimarães, 2014), Underdogs Gallery (Lisbon, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019), Dismaland (Weston-super-Mare, 2015), Bien Urbain Festival (Besançon, 2016), Artgang Gallery (Montreal, 2016), Festival Iminente (Oeiras 2016, 2017; London, 2017; Lisbon, 2018; Lisbon, 2019), WTF gallery (Bangkok, 2017), MAAT – Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Lisbon, 2018), Outdoor Festival di Roma (Rome, 2018), Galerie Slika (Lyon, 2019), The Crystal Ship (Ostende, 2019) or Beyond the Streets (Southampton, New York, 2021) among many others. He currently lives and works in Lisbon, Portugal.
