SUMMARY
At the end of the 80s, Vantag (then a company within the insurance industry) led by Jorge Cardoso had an available space that he decided to devote to culture and art.
The painter Elvira Leite and the writer Zilda Cardoso led the process which, at the behest of painter Armando Alves, chose to specialize in Art Naïve.
The activity was intense because there wasn't in Portugal, a single permanent gallery for this type of art.
At Vantag there was painting, clay sculpture, wooden boats, jewellery, embroidery crafts, objects resulting from the use of pieces of scrap iron and so on. This first stage took place at Rua de Julio Dinis, in Porto (Portugal).
With the change of facilities, namely to the Aviz Building, shifts occurred in direction, which corresponded to the phases, 2 and 3 (Design and Art) in two different venues in this area.
The main goal was the development of Portuguese design.
Vantag, asked for several projects from architects and designers (Alvaro Siza, Alcino Soutinho, Souto Moura, Pedro Silva Dias and others) for pieces of furniture, rugs, lamps, etc. The design exhibitions alternated with those of art (such as, the sculptures of Marga Crespo or the paintings of Miguel Leal) giving thus and from the beginning an international nature to our batch of artists.
Exhibitions were being organized outside Porto too, such as the one in Sala do Risco in Lisbon (design), the Centro Cultural de Vigo / Spain (design, painting and sculpture) or the Europália in Brussels (design and ceramics).
It was the longest stage of Vantag, and in the design field there was a positive contribution to the purpose of the sophistication of consumers’ tastes.
Then, in 2008, we started the 4th stage, focused (but not exclusively) on Photography, either with exhibitions or with book publishing.
DEVELOPMENT
Vantag Fase I - Arte Naif
NOVEMBER 15, 1985 JANUARY 15, 1986 FEBRUARY 12, 1986
MARCH 5, 1986 JANUARY 17 through 31, 1987
JUNE 11 through 30, 1987
