One of the most original voices in contemporary Brazilian art, Adriana
Varejão's diverse practice comprises painting, sculpture, photography
and installation. Her sources are many - baroque art, colonial history,
architectural ruins, natural sciences and theatre. Blurring the
boundaries between painting and sculpture, Varejão's previous series'
of work chart a unique development of ideas and common thread of
research. From the mid-1990s, the artist explored two juxtaposing
motifs within her practice -flesh and tiles (or azulejos). The
Jerked-beef ruin series (2000 - 2004) are likened to contemporary
ruins, where the painted surfaces of floor and wall-based sculptural
works are violently ruptured to expose a visceral flesh-like interior,
providing a stark contrast to the cold tiled surface.
Varejão's large monochromatic paintings from the ongoing Sauna series demonstrate perfect control of light and shade to represent idealised, contemporary tiled interiors and swimming baths. Upholding the visual poetics and conceptual impulses of her earlier practice, the fine colour gradations of these paintings enliven their otherwise chromatic uniformity whilst the grids that constitute these works recall their use in modernist aesthetics. One of the artist's largest projects to date recently opened at Inhotim Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Brazil - a specially commissioned pavilion designed in collaboration with architect Rodrigeo Cervino Lopez.
Born in 1964, Adriana Varejão currently lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has previously held solo exhibitions at Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2008) Hara Museum, Tokyo (2007), Fondation Cartier Pour L'Art Contemporain, Paris (2005), Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon (2005), Domus Artium (DA2), Salamanca (2005), Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (2001), and Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2000). Varejão has exhibited extensively internationally including MoMA QNS, New York, ARS06 Kiasma, Helsinki, Site Santa Fe, New Mexico, Liverpool Biennial, the Biennale of Sydney, the Venice Biennale, and the São Paulo Biennial. A permanent pavilion devoted to Adriana Varejaõ's work opened in 2008 at Centro de Arte Contemporánea Inhotim in Brazil.
www.adrianavarejao.net
Varejão's large monochromatic paintings from the ongoing Sauna series demonstrate perfect control of light and shade to represent idealised, contemporary tiled interiors and swimming baths. Upholding the visual poetics and conceptual impulses of her earlier practice, the fine colour gradations of these paintings enliven their otherwise chromatic uniformity whilst the grids that constitute these works recall their use in modernist aesthetics. One of the artist's largest projects to date recently opened at Inhotim Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Brazil - a specially commissioned pavilion designed in collaboration with architect Rodrigeo Cervino Lopez.
Born in 1964, Adriana Varejão currently lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She has previously held solo exhibitions at Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, Brazil (2008) Hara Museum, Tokyo (2007), Fondation Cartier Pour L'Art Contemporain, Paris (2005), Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon (2005), Domus Artium (DA2), Salamanca (2005), Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro (2001), and Bildmuseet, Umeå, Sweden (2000). Varejão has exhibited extensively internationally including MoMA QNS, New York, ARS06 Kiasma, Helsinki, Site Santa Fe, New Mexico, Liverpool Biennial, the Biennale of Sydney, the Venice Biennale, and the São Paulo Biennial. A permanent pavilion devoted to Adriana Varejaõ's work opened in 2008 at Centro de Arte Contemporánea Inhotim in Brazil.
www.adrianavarejao.net
Exhibitions
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Adriana Varejão
7 Sep - 1 Oct 2011 -
Saunas
14 September - 9 October 2004 -
Adriana Varejão
30 January – 28 March 2002
