BARRAO: MASHUPS

Brazilian artist Barrão (born 1959) is best known for his whimsical, somewhat bizarre sculptural clusters and "mash-ups" assembled from fragments of popular vitreous porcelain and ceramic objects. The artist acquires these fragments, once commonly cherished in Brazilian households, by scouting the secondhand stores, flea markets and dumpsters of Rio de Janeiro. When a sufficient quantity of materials has been accumulated, Barrão sorts and classifies the ceramics in his studio, separating them by size, color, function, vessel or ornament. These fragments are then carefully fused into a single sculptural entity, each of which constitutes a sort of a mini-collection--a vibrant magma of explosive visual and tactile qualities. Published for Barrão's 2012 exhibition at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, and with a foreword by Tunga, this volume offers a concise introduction to Barrão's free-flowing associative sculpture.