Parede com Incisões à la Fontana—Horizontal [Wall with Incisions à la Fontana—Horizontal]
Varejão’s work frequently addresses the richly layered culture of her native Brazil and the brutal history of its colonization. Covering her canvas in a sanitized blue-tile motif—such as might be seen in a public restroom or pool but that is also similar to a functionalist grid—Varejão gashes the surface to reveal what looks like bloody flesh underneath. The violent slashes metaphorically make visible the painful traumas of European incursions into the so-called New World. The incisions also deliberately appropriate fellow South American artist Lucio Fontana’s famous gesture (subjecting his oeuvre to the process of "artistic cannibalism"), connecting Varejão’s work to Fontana, who lived in Italy but was born in Argentina.
Artwork Details
- Title: Parede com Incisões à la Fontana—Horizontal [Wall with Incisions à la Fontana—Horizontal]
- Artist: Adriana Varejão (Brazilian, born Rio de Janeiro, 1964)
- Date: 2008–11
- Medium: Oil on canvas and polyurethane on aluminum and wood support
- Dimensions: 47 3/8 in. × 9 ft. 2 1/2 in. (120.3 × 280.7 cm)
- Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: Gift of Roberta and Michael Joseph, 2015
- Object Number: 2015.767
- Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art
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