Room 153

On my visit to the old Matarazzo Hospital, the peeling walls and cramped size of the rooms reminded me of the claustrophobic settings of Francis Bacon’s paintings. Using a trolley bed as the support for my sculpture meant the memory of the place was maintained in the work. While it doesn’t establish any direct relationship with the representation of the human body, bringing the bed into the room triggers a projection of precisely that upon the bandaged mass. The idea of the body is here disfigured, establishing a material continuity with the deteriorated environment in which it is immersed. Henrique Oliveira holds degrees in the Arts and in painting, and a master’s degree in Visual Poetics from the University of São Paulo’s School of Communication and the Arts (ECA-USP). Though a painter by training, his work also explores three-dimensional constructions in the form of temporary installations and sculptures.