For

Senior Years Students

Curriculum

VCE Art/Studio Arts

Aim

To understand the historical context in which this work was produced.

Preparation

To do this activity you will need to:

• Read the information for Theme Two – Postwar Abstraction in Europe and Theme Nine – Contemporary Art: Public and Private.
• View the work either online or in the exhibition.
• Research through the library or Internet.

Individual Task

"Just as Fontana turned to matte, monochrome surfaces in order to purify his painting and draw the viewer's attention to the wound in the canvas skin, in Varejão's more recent work, her trompe l'oeil tile walls are aseptic, industrial and pure."

Define the term trompe l'oeil.

Research Questions

Varejão's work is made after 1970 but responds to the colonial history of Brazil. Her work responds to the troubled and ugly truth about Brazil's history of colonialism, slavery, and racism. This dark history is now largely redeemed by Brazil's political and economical success. Europeans first 'discovered' Brazil in 1500, and it remained a Portuguese colony until the nineteenth century. The sugarcane industry was made profitable only by the forced labour of African slaves. Brazil's indigenous people were banished or assimilated into the Brazilian population. If the ruptures of the otherwise perfectly tiled surface represent the fabric of Brazilian society, what must it mean to find such bodily damage below the surface? Could this be a metaphor for cutting through the falsehoods of history? Discuss.

Group Task

Compare the materials, techniques and processes used by Adriana Varejão with that of Lucio Fontana. Note what is similar and what is different about the works, and the artists' aims and approaches.

What is distinctive about Fontana and Varejão's work?

Discuss your response to this work with others.