Nature is full of processes and relations that are strange, grotesque and queer. Bodies fuelled by fluids – blood and sap – are animated by lethal energies and uncanny desires. The taste of our fingers lingers on the leaf of the newly plucked herb, as we pull it from the dirt. The flora is alien, knowledge is sensual, the taste is nicely bitter.
At Galleri Box LealVeileby is showing a new body of work comprised of photos, soft sculpture and a video work shot on the island of São Miguel. Due to its location in the Atlantic Ocean, and its geothermal activity, the island is host to a large variety of fauna, both indigenous and imported, accidental and invasive, poisonous and therapeutic.
The Portuguese-Swedish artist duo and couple LealVeileby (António Leal, 1976 and Jesper Veileby, 1985) tend to explore contemporary life by weaving together scientific speculation, mysticism, and queer and everyday experiences. Their primary artistic tools are video, installation, objects, photography, text and sound pieces. They both hold MFAs from Malmö Art Academy, Sweden, and are also informed by Leal’s previous pharmaceutical studies. This is the duo’s first soloshow in the city of Gothenburg.
LealVeileby have had solo shows in both Sweden (Krognoshuset, 2023; Skånes konstförening 2021, 2018) and Portugal (Galeria Graça Brandão, 2023; Espaço Campanhã 2018, 2013), and have been shown at video-art festivals and group exhibitions in Europe and Brazil, most recently “In the City grows a Field” at Malmö Konsthall (2022). In 2017 they were the winners of Fuso – Video Art Festival, Lisbon. They received working grants from the Swedish Arts Grants Committee (2021, 2020) and Aase & Richard Björklunds Fond grant from Malmö Art Museum (2019).
Their work is represented in the collections of MAAT Museum (Lisbon) and Region Skåne.
Hendrik Zeitler