01 Work, CONTEMPORARY Interpretation of the Bible! Adriana Varejão's Cristo, with Footnotes - #52

Adriana Varejão (Brazilian b. 1964)

Cristo, c. 1988

Oil on canvas

70 ⅞ x 86 ⅝ in. (180 x 220 cm.)

Private collection

Crucifixion is a historical method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden beam and left to hang for several days until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It is principally known from classical antiquity, but remains in occasional use in some countries. 

The crucifixion of Jesus is a central narrative in Christianity, and the cross (sometimes depicting Jesus nailed onto it) is the main religious symbol for many Christian churches. More Crucifixion

Adriana Varejão was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1964. Her paintings, sculptures, installations, and photographs engage with the complex and violent artistic and political history of Brazil. She appropriates stylistic traditions introduced to Brazil as part of the colonial encounter. In her early series Baroque Varejão explores the ornate style that arrived with the conquistadors. In the series Terra Incognita she utilized the Dutch, Portuguese, and Chinese pictorial traditions imported in the seventeenth century. With her series Proposal for a Catechesis Varejão began to incorporate the decorative terracotta tiles. Here the vulnerable skin of the canvas and tile are spliced open to reveal the corporeal violence lying beneath the smooth illusionism of the painted surface and, symbolically, the historical narratives. Varejão's paintings became increasingly sculptural, introducing elements that extended beyond the canvas, and she soon transitioned to sculpture and installation. By the time the artist initiated the series Jerked-beef Ruins, European tiles gave way to more universal pale blue or white tiles. More on Adriana Varejão

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