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artist, iran-do-espirirto-santo, plan-of-readings.

BIOGRAPHY

Iran do Espírito Santo was born in Mococa, Brazil, 1963. Lives in São Paulo 2007 Iran do Espírito Santo: Uma Visão Geral, Estação Pinacoteca, São Paulo; 52. Biennale di Venezia 2006 Transforming Cronologies: An Atlas of Drawings, Part One, The Museum of Modern Art – MoMA, New York 2005 InSite_05, Tijuana, Mexico & San Diego, USA 2004 Galeria Fortes Vilaça, São Paulo; Replacement, Sean Kelly Gallery, New York Selected Bibliography ARGUELES, Marisol, Iran do Espírito Santo, Mexico, Museo de Arte Carillo Gil, 2004; MESQUITA, Ivo & PEDROSA, Adriano (eds.), F(R)ICCIONES, Madrid, Nuevo Milenio/ Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte, 2002; TONE, Lilian, “Optimal Conditions of Visibility: Iran do Espírito Santo’s perfectly implausible works” IN: Iran do Espírito Santo, Dublin, Irish Museum of Modern Art, 2006, pp.14-21.

INTERVIEW

Monica de la Torre: Does your position relate to your resistance to approaching issues that have a certain political currency? I’m thinking of your piece Current/ Recurrency, consisting of coins that have been effaced and thus are devoid of value as currency.

Iran do Espírito Santo: I work to fulfill my needs, to respond to what surrounds me. I find it strange when an artist specializes in one subject. I understand obsessions, but no specialization. I suppose it happens because art institutions and the market need art to be easily identified. I think my work resists this. I work on different fronts all the time.

Monica de la Torre: You probably have to experiment with many different materials until you achieve the effect that you want.

Iran do Espírito Santo: In a sense my work is very experimental. It doesn’t look that way, but it is.

Monica de la Torre: You were painting at some point. Why did you leap from canvas to the wall?

Iran do Espírito Santo: I have little experience as a traditional painter, but I have drawn obsessively since I was a child. I was always very attracted to the walls, so it was more a move from the pages to the walls. The move wasn’t conscious. I felt this urge to go big and liked the potential of a large image so closely attached to its surroundings.

Monica de la Torre: You’ve mentioned that you fulfilled your desire to draw by manually creating the effects of wood grain in your panels.

Iran do Espírito Santo: Yes. I also sketch a lot. Recently I’ve commissioned others to do some of the work, but I’m quite sure I don’t want to lose physical touch with my art.

Monica de la Torre: Could you talk about your inclination toward Constructivism rather than Expressionism?

Iran do Espírito Santo: I’ve actually been thinking a lot about this. My conclusion so far is that it has to do with people’s personalities. To me an artist who only tries to express himself can easily become too self-involved. I try to avoid any type of narcissism; maybe I sublimate it. Expressiveness can lead to narcissism. I have such a strong reaction against narcissistic practices. I just don’t see what their relevance is. I also avoid the whole body thing – the representation of the body and also the work that places emphasis on sensorial experiences – because it became so fashionable. It’s somehow become this symbol of Brazilian art.

Edited excerpt from the interview originally published in the Review of Latin American Literature and Arts, nº 64, Spring 2002.


Mónica de la Torre is a writer who lives in New York, where she is the senior editor of bomb Magazine.

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