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.
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.She has had solo exhibitions at 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 the MoMA QNS, New York, ARS06 Kiasma, Helsinki, Site
Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Liverpool Biennial, the Biennale of Sydney, the
Venice Biennale, and the São Paulo Biennial.
www.adrianavarejao.net
Exhibitions
-
Saunas
14 September - 9 October 2004 -
Adriana Varejão
30 January – 28 March 2002
