Varejão: Azulejão

The Gagosian gallery in Rome is presenting Azulejão, a new work from Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão, best known for her incisive reflections on the rich yet conflicted history and culture of Brazil, embodied in her “big tile” paintings.

Varejão’s constant invocation of the azulejo in her art functions as a metaphor for the mixing of cultures, whether by force or by desire. These highly inventive paintings simulate azulejos, or painted tiles whose complex provenance connects Brazil with Portugal through trade and colonization. The azulejo, a square glazed terracotta tile, is the most widely used form of decoration in Portuguese national art, used continuously throughout the country’s history from the Middle Ages onward. Traditionally, vast, luxuriously theatrical designs of azulejos were used to decorate both religious and secular buildings, homogenizing the architecture into an illusionistic pictorial whole.

The azulejo constantly renewed its vigor, reflecting the organic eclecticism of a culture that was both expansive and open to dialogue. It embraced the lessons of the Moorish artisans, inspired by the ceramics of Seville and Valencia; it later adapted the ornamental formula of the Italian Renaissance while acknowledging the exoticism of Oriental china; following an ephemeral period of Dutch inspiration, it created fantasy story panels in blue and white that set the tone for a perfect assimilation of widely varied elements. It was used in far distant places of Portugal’s empire, such as Brazil. 

until 10 December 2016
Adriana Varejão. Azulejão
Gagosian Gallery
via Francesco Crispi 16, Rome