Entre paredes

Afonso Tostes

From Aug 22 to Oct 01 2005

In the exhibition Entre Paredes, Afonso Tostes presents 30 sculptures in small format, from the Prédios series, and other bigger ones, from the Escoras series, all in Brazilian noble woods, collected by the artist in demolition and construction sites throughout the city.

In the main exhibition room, the sculptures from the Prédios series are organised in an unseen assemblage, where the walls are free, white and act as a frame to the floor, which houses the arranged works. The pieces from this series respond to the rustic nature of the wood, the way it was found, and the segments worked by the artist. Tostes states "the observation of that that would at first be null, is what was vital to me."

The Escoras series are out of the exhibition space, more precisely, in the gallery?s outside corridor. One of them, placed on the stairwell that leads to the second floor of the gallery, the others propping the house?s walls, and a great piece on the street, as if anchoring the house that houses the gallery.

The artist?s current production deepens his investigation on structures, because the sculptures dialogue with the architectural space where they are installed, exerting a pressure that demonstrates an apparent fragility of these spaces and their components. Thus, the ceiling and walls of the gallery seem unstructured, although the reflection on the links between art and the institution is present in a subjective way. Entre Paredes is a timely exhibition within the artist's production, extending and enhancing the concepts of sculpture and installation, making these concepts approach and live together in a same work.