Adriano Pedrosa

André Mesquita

Erika Verzutti (São Paulo, 1971) is a key artist for understanding sculpture practice today, both in the Brazilian panorama and internationally. Her thought- provoking forms explore new routes for the medium, with renewed attention to the origin and materiality of sculpture, its varied references, and its formal intelligence. Using different materials, such as bronze, concrete, stone, and papier-maché, Verzuttiœs works are sensual and tactile, both rough and refined, evoking animals and plants, landscapes and minerals, everyday objects and objects of artfrom Tarsila do Amaral to Constantin Brancusi, from René Magritte to Piero Manzoni. Often with an uncanny character, Verzuttiœs sculptures give themselves up to unpredictability, sometimes with a certain degree of humor, refusing to accept pre-established definitions or traditionshence the catalogueœs subtitle: The Indiscipline of Sculpture. This is the most thorough publication dedicated to Verzuttiœs oeuvre, which accompanies her first exhibition in a Brazilian museumthe Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand. The book is divided into seven chapters organizing the artistœs practice, spanning her entire career since 2003: Becoming-Animalʺ, Tropical Pathwayʺ, World Metaphorʺ, Totemize the Tabooʺ, Wild Modernismʺ, Under Tarsilaœs Sun (and Other Stories),ʺ and Strangely Familiar.ʺ With texts written by curators, art critics, and historians, this is a fundamental book for understanding Erika Verzuttiœs work as one of the most singular contributions to the field of sculpture today.

André Mesquita

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