Skalitzers Contemporary Art presents Dissolve by acclaimed Portuguese artist Alexandre Farto, aka Vhils.

In his first exhibition in Australia, following shows in Europe and China in 2012, Vhils presents a new body of work using the city itself as the prime material to focus on the fundamental relationship between the individual and his surrounding environment. Working with a range of materials across public and private space, Vhils has also left his mark on the city, with a new public work in the Rocks.

Fascinated by a certain nostalgia engendered by natural decay, Vhils explores the ephemeral nature that underlies all things but also questions the need for promoting change for the sake of change, development for the sake of development, regardless of the social, cultural and historical heritage razed in its wake. His ... work reflects not only upon the violence inherent to the changes brought on by excessive, unnecessary development - a notion he explores by resorting to practices that emphasise the act of creating through destructive means - but also its consequences, as simplicity gives way to complexity, destroying what he sees as an essential composite of personal, cultural and historical layers which, in a symbolic form, lies at the root of all things human. This key concept in Vhils' work sees him delving into the strata of the past like an archeologist, bringing to light certain essential elements which he fears may have been lost along the course of time: a notion of purity, a more humanised dimension of life.

Miguel Moore, March 2013