Name: Show Off: Art Collections by Frederico Rato, Francisco Ricarte & Konstantin Bessmertny
Start: 2023-06-07T00:00:00.000Z
End: 2023-07-28T00:00:00.000Z

Exhibition Overview

The Taipa Village Cultural Association specially invites three renowned collectors from different backgrounds to showcase exclusive artworks they have collected over many years: lawyer Frederico Rato, architect Francisco Ricarte, and painter Konstantin Bessmertny.

This unusual exhibition attempts to explore the essence of collecting and, through highly personal interests, sparks a visual dialogue about cultural property. The three collectors will share their motivations, the meaning behind collecting art, and the importance of this long-term practice.

Curator's Preface

Collecting is a fundamental human instinct for survival. As we transitioned from nomadic to settled communities, we began collecting not only food and tools, which inspired other categories of collection, such as cave paintings.

This exhibition presents artworks collected over years and even decades by three well-known local figures: a lawyer, an architect, and a painter. Each collection is vastly different, reflecting the collector's personality as distinctly as three minds viewing the same subject.

Frederico Rato (Lawyer): Deeply interested in all things related to Macau, from 19th-century coastal prints to works by various artists depicting the region. He and his wife also travel worldwide to visit exhibitions by masters like Marc Chagall.
Francisco Ricarte (Architect): A photography enthusiast and artist. He treasures a collection of 2,000 well-cataloged photography books, and his art collection primarily revolves around photography.
Konstantin Bessmertny (Painter): A prominent Russian artist who settled in Macau in the early 1990s. For the exhibition, he presents a series of old books arranged as an art installation, allowing viewers to touch and read them. These books are a major source of his creative inspiration.

João Ó

Collector Profiles

Frederico Rato: Founding partner of Rato, Ling, Lei & Cortés – Advogados and a political commentator on Macau television. He has been invited to speak at numerous legal and non-legal conferences. He co-authored the Macau chapter of Global Financial Services Regulators (Oxford University Press, 2004–08) and contributes to other legal and non-legal publications.
Francisco Ricarte: Portuguese, born in 1955, architect, developed a passion for photography in 1976, and moved to Macau in 2006. Since settling in Macau, Asia has fascinated him, offering a new perspective on his previous world. Since 2021, he has been a co-founder of the Macau photography association "HALFTONE."
Konstantin Bessmertny: Born in 1964 in Blagoveshchensk, former Soviet Union. Currently resides in Macau and Hong Kong and is one of Asia's most outstanding artists. He studied fine arts for nine years at a major Soviet art academy, mastering exceptional technique. His deep understanding of a wide range of subjects, including literature, music, history, and politics, imbues his work with extraordinary intelligence and credibility.