Perimetrales

In Cruzamentos (crossings) the presence of architecture is potentialized by the titles; without them we would just see sculptures projecting into space from the most traditional support for artworks – the walls. Their construction involves tension in the material extending between its points of attachment and the counterweight of cylindrical concrete test specimen suspended by steel wires. No element is superfluous – they all act to compose the contrast between the invisible physical tensions and its presence in the materials: the tension of the steel arc and its evident corporeality versus the tension of the wires that defy the body which outlines the void.

In the series of engravings entitled Perimetrais, the starting point here is the structural elements that sustain a well-known, high-speed elevated roadway that encircles Rio de Janeiro’s downtown district. The redevelopment plans for the city center and the wharf in the port area call for the demolition of this roadway. What Ana reveals in her prints, by isolating the columns and supporting beams, is a contemporary geometry camouflaged by the hustle and bustle of urban life. These elements isolated on paper, carefully selected and cut out, demonstrate on the flatness of the plane the same rigor that has always ruled in the artist’s works.

Around Towers and Crossings
[Paulo Sergio Duarte]