The Pinacoteca São Paulo opens today (26) the most comprehensive exhibition of the work produced by artist Adriana Varejão. The exhibition brings together more than 60 works by the artist from Rio de Janeiro, produced between 1985 and 2022, some of them unpublished and produced especially for the occasion. The exposure Adriana Varejão: Sutures, Fissures and Ruins It will be on display until the 1st of August.
Artist from Rio de Janeiro arrives in São Paulo for the biggest exhibition of his work – Murilo Meirelles/Rights reserved
The works will occupy seven rooms in the Pinacoteca, in addition to a special space in the Octagon, the museum’s central area, which will exhibit five works, two of which have never been seen before: grinder and ruin 22. The work will also be on display. Brasilis Ruin, which was donated by the artist to the Pinacoteca collection. The exhibition is curated by Jochen Volz, the space’s director general.
“What is latent for me in this show is the way Adriana Varejão works with painting because, from the beginning, she follows a direction that goes beyond the two-dimensionality of the canvas, using elements that break the material; there are cracks, cuts, leaks that reveal a situation and give it a new meaning, such as the ‘viscera’ and ‘meat’ that spill over into many of her works”, says the curator’s text about the exhibition.
Adriana Varejão’s work mixes baroque elements with contemporary art and questions the colonial past. In her work, the canvas surface is not just a support: it is cut, cracked, carved and fissured, exposing its innards and viscera and acquiring new meanings.
In addition to these works, his famous tiles will also be on display. One of the exhibition rooms will be dedicated to these paintings influenced by Portuguese tiles, such as the installation tilesconsisting of 27 screens.
Constructions The illuminated, by Adriana Varejao – Pinacoteca de São Paulo / Works by Adriana Varejão
Another room will be dedicated to works by Varejão that deal with historical fictions, in which she seeks to give new meanings to maps, landscapes and interiors of the colonial past. In this room will be displayed the painting colonial self portraitsin which the artist discusses issues related to racial violence.
More information about the exhibition can be found at site from the Pinacoteca. The Pinacoteca has free admission on Saturdays.
