Opening Monday October 8th, 2007, 6:00 to 8:30 PM
The exhibition will remain open until Novem ber 10th, 2007
Gallery hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM

View work

Blow de la Barra is pleased to present an exhibition of new works by Erika Verzutti.

In the sculptures of Erika Verzutti ordinary objects are transformed so that they exist between the figurative and the abstract. Cast in bronze and coloured with acrylic paint, an incredibly variety of fruits, vegetables and other daily objects that she finds in the immediacy of her surroundings are altered and distorted, becoming the recipients of the artist’s intimate imaginary and formal associations. For Verzutti “the artist’s attention to daily objects demonstrates a wish to maintain the artistic activity close to our habits”. The re-working of these everyday models trigger a chain of associations that rapidly goes beyond the work’s original source.

For her exhibition at Blow de la Barra, Verzutti brings to the gallery a series of 5 sculptures made out of the combination of different fruits and vegetables. The newly born objects acquire a life of their own and a self-sufficiency that voids them of any purpose other than the surreal take on everyday fruit and vegetables. Sitting on a plinth, Azambuja (2007), a Brazilian jaca crowned by multiple rows of broccoli recalls the main character from the 1970s Brazilian comedy show ‘Azambuja & Cia’. Galapagos (2007), a cashew nut peak-like stuck on a fig sitting on top of a graviola, fantasises on possible blue birds from these islands. Hanging on the wall, Ox (2007) is a sweet potato with two horn-like roots painted with traditional Brazilian popular patterns. Standing on the floor, Maria (2007), a three asparagus legged creature covered in pink acrylic paint, is named after the Brazilian sculptor Maria Martin. Finally, the shape of a mythological animal appears in 7 Headed Monster (2007), a lump of cold porcelain carved with serpents and holding seven limbs topped up with a combination of bronze cast fruits, a fantastic hybrid of references ranging from Carmen Miranda’s pre-Tropicalist turban to the best known mythological multi-headed animal, Hydra.

Almost as in a cannibal act, Verzutti’s works seem to eat and digest a broad repertoire of forms and references, transforming them into both grotesque and graceful imaginary creatures. The models that she uses are distorted, adding to the final object urgency and self-deprecation. Even though they approach the fantastic, what predominates in this gesture is the idea of contemplating commonplace objects through a humorous gaze combined with the essence of the form that underlies modernist sculpture.

Erika Verzutti (Sao Paulo, 1971) is an artist living and working in Sao Paulo. She has recently shown her work at Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo, Brazil (2006); Aderências, SESC Paulista, São Paulo, Brazil (2005); Plastic.o.rama, Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2005); Paste it, Angel Studio, Berlin, Germany (2004); and Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool, UK (2002).