Iran do Espírito Santo

Iran do Espírito Santo Iran do Espírito Santo
$60.00 USD

Published by Edizioni Electa (2006)
218 pages, Illustrated
English and Italian

This volume - the most definitive to date on Iran do Espírito Santo's work - was published on the occasion of his exhibition at the Museo Nazionale delle Arti del XXI Secolo, Rome, from February 24 until April 30, 2006. It then traveled to the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, and the Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo. The exhibition was curated by Enrique Juncosa, Director, IMMA, in collaboration with Paolo Colombo, Curator, MAXXI.

With texts by Enrique Juncosa, Paolo Colombo and Lilian Tone, Curator, Museum of Modern Art, New York, this publication comprises some 28 works ranging from 1999 to 2006 by Iran do Espírito Santo, one of Brazil's most prominent contemporary artists. It includes sculpture, drawing and installation, as well as one painting – a seductive but disturbing black version of the flag of Brazil. Espírito Santo's work deals with structure, design, place, surface, space, light and material, and is based on a subtle subversion of Minimalism through abstracted everyday items.

Among the artist's favorite materials are glass, stainless steel, granite, marble and sandstone. He reduces his palette to variations of white, gray and black. Such colors and materials render timeless simple forms taken from recognizable objects such as lamps, bricks, boxes, keyholes and tins. In the artist's hands, the functional nature of these daily objects disappears as they become aestheticized and idealized representations.