Adriana Varejão

Adriana Varejão (1964, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil) lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. Through her evocative works and materially diverse artistic practice, she presents incisive reflections on the multiplex nature of Brazilian history, memory, and culture. Her oeuvre encompasses painting, sculpture, photography, and video installation. Reflected in her hybridization of mediums in manifold forms—including sculptural paintings and floor-based sculptural works—is the syncretism immanent to Brazil’s postcolonial identity. She draws upon aesthetic traditions and a visual legacy resulting from transnational exchange, imperial and otherwise, to create a confluence of forms that she conceives as a metaphor for the modern world.

Recent solo exhibitions include: Adriana Varejão: Otros Cuerpos Detrás, Museo Tamayo (Mexico City, 2019); Adriana Varejão: For a Cannibal Rhetoric, Museu de Arte Moderna Aloíso Magalhães (Recife, 2019); Transbarroco, Villa Medici (Rome, 2017); Kindred Spirits, Dallas Contemporary (Dallas, 2015); Adriana Varejão, Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, 2014); Adriana Varejão: Histórias às Margens, Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (2012); Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo, 2007); and Chambre d’échos / Câmara de ecos, Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (Paris, 2005), among others. Her work is held in the collections such as Coleção Gilberto Chateaubriand (Rio de Janeiro); Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain (Paris); Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Tokyo); Inhotim Centro de Arte Contemporânea, Brumadinho (Brazil); Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York); the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego (San Diego); Museu de Arte do Rio (Rio de Janeiro); Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); the Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam); and Tate (London), among others.