Art | Andrey Zignnatto’s Carved Brick + Eroded Landscapes

SÃO PAULO—As if bearing witness to a topographical rendering of the aftermath of a glacial meltdown, Brazilian artist Andrey Zignnatto‘s use of brick his in both his Erosoes and Territórios  Forjados appear like eroded landscapes, ILoboU writes.

Exposing bricks in an artistic way that people usually don’t imagine. Bricks are often just a boring object, but in Andrey’s hands they are turned into special artworks to admire.

The former bricklayer creates his works by assembling the greenware bricks, from which he then carves out his vision. The sculpture, once complete, is disassembled, fired, and then reassembled on site. Like an enormous jig-saw puzzle.

Zignnatto’s geological forms, which can take up the entire volume of a room, explore ideas of time and place in a physical world in which man coexists with nature, WideWalls writes.

Being surrounded by nature-given objects, man shapes the space around him with artificial objects that bring geometry and proportion to the visible world. First comes the idea, then the realization, and between those two phases came the intention, the projection, and the vision. Zignnatto investigates the origin of material and how it can be manipulated in the process of creation. Choosing large-scale sculptures and installations, he escapes the claustrophobic restriction of the studio and photographs them in their non-natural habitat.

Zignnatto chooses to build large-scale sculptures and installations in order to escape the spacial restriction of the studio, WideWalls adds. His other works feature large overflowing piles of deflated extruded clay, draped blankets of brick and worm-like segments.

Zignnatto is accused of plagiarizing his carved brick works from those of French sculptor Vincent Mauger. Zignnatto claims to have never had contact with the works of Mauger or with the world of contemporary art until emerging on the circuit.

These videos are entirely in Portuguese, but you can glean an idea of Zignnatto’s process and work:

ArtRio Pílulas de Arte com Andrey Zignnatto from ArtRio on Vimeo.

About the artist: Zignnatto is self-taught artist, and works in São Paulo. He attended several courses and workshops by the Association of Plastic Artists of Jundiaí, where he also served as professor from 1999-2011. In 2013, he participated in the 4th Edition of “Summer Camp” held at the Atelier 397. He also attended the group discussions Atelier Hermes project, with accompanying artists Nino Cais and Marcelo Amorim. Zignnatto is represented by Blau Projects.

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