Sean Kelly Gallery is delighted to announce the first North American gallery exhibition of work by Brazilian artist Iran do Espírito Santo who recently joined the gallery. Espírito Santo is best known for his sensually minimal work that deals with issues of structure, design, place, surface and material with a rigorous conceptual sensibility.
Espírito Santo's exhibition is comprised of wall installations, recent sculptural works and new pieces commissioned specifically for this exhibition. In the sculpture entitled Correction, 2001 the artist takes the natural forms of solid granite blocks and applies cuts that follow the veins of the stones, turning them into geometric polyhedrons and thereby cultural artifacts. Espírito Santo is particularly interested in the way his work lends itself to architecture and vice-versa. In untitled (keyhole), 2002 the polished black surface of the granite reflects the exhibition space. Four glass sculptures, from the Restless series, also make use of reflective surfaces to invoke a sense of displacement in the viewer. In two large wall drawings, the artist deals with ideas of abstraction and representation using natural and cultural patterns he appropriates. Parallel Forest is a gigantic barcode, its black bars made of a wood grain pattern incised directly into the wall. Ambiguity plays a central role in the work, the artist transforms industrial design items, such as Phillipe Starck lamps and old fashioned candlesticks, into iconic minimalist sculptures.
Espírito Santo has exhibited widely in museums and galleries worldwide; his works are included in the collections of many prominent international museums including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco and the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Espírito Santo's works have been included in the Venice Biennial, Venice, Italy, the Bienal Internacional de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil and the Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey. Recent exhibitions have included: Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil; Museo Nacional Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain; In Site'97, San Diego, CA / Tijuana, Mexico; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
