I visited Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão's exhibition a while ago, and since then I had planned to share these very impactful images here.
Called "Adriana Varejão: Sutures, fissures, ruins", the exhibition brings an unprecedented approach to the artist's trajectory, bringing together a significant set of more than 60 of her works, produced from 1985 until 2022.
The exhibited works bring into focus the repeated and radical examination of visual history, of European iconographic traditions, and of the conventions and material codes of Western art-making.
Since Varejão's first baroque works, the surface of the canvas is never a mere support; on the contrary, it is an essential element of the painting's message. The cut, the crack, the carving, and the fissure are recurrent elements in the artist's work since 1992.
For me it was very remarkable to visit this exhibition, which I did in my favorite way: alone. As I walked through the corridors observing the works, the architecture of the Pinacoteca de São Paulo, and the people, I couldn't help but dive deeply into the proposal. Only those who were born in a colonized country know how much we are still reaping the fruits of such violence. There is a lot of blood and wounds sustaining the pillars of European colonization.
I leave you with the images that I made on this occasion and I hope you like it.
❤️