Adriano Costa at Mendes Wood DM / São Paulo

Adriano Costa

We Chose Life . What Now, Georg? Tshirts ?

26/05 – 28/08 2018


Mendes Wood DM
Rua da Consolação 3368
São Paulo 
SP 01416 – 000 Brazil





























You want to know about the show. What it will be ... good question.
It's my second show in the main gallery room. I'll use two spaces, the back room as well. Which is really cool. The show has a lot of lack of control not only mine but of the world, really. It has a half apocalyptic environment of my studio mixed with my last exhibitions and what was left of them. 
I’m talking about Brazil, especially about São Paulo (burning city!), About Art, subjects that I might even like to see myself free, but it's impossible. I can’t see how keep our feet hands head and body all out of this crazy darkness that is TODAY. In fact I think that this time is quite interesting. Lot of good stuff has come out of it and comes more. The title of the show is We Chose Life . What Now, Georg? Tshirts ? maybe I have to correct the title, I'm lousy in some language constructions haha. Even in Portuguese ... Remember (maybe not ... you're young ..When George Michael
appeared in 1984 in the video of "Wake me up before you go go". wearing a white T-shirt written CHOSE LIFE. So: the title of the show comes from there.
be alive, fight to be able to be the way I want, and extend this right not only for me, ... finally, I see this moment, where it seems that we are walking 50 years backwards, grimace, full of rules, people wanting gay cure, dictatorship, extremists in the streets screaming openly against minorities (so ridiculous to call gays, lesbians, transvestites, trans, artists and so on .... "minority" in a country like Brazil hahah), people like me: faggot and artist hahah ... anyway my friend: the title of the show calls us all to a big AND NOW? WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING. This my “something” has no specific flag. There are a lot of them. I think about a clear dialogue without pre-conceived actions or re-actions .... Which is very difficult. I think we can include the famous "Art System" (heavy term haha) ... we're all in the same boat., in the same place, curator, gallerist, artist ...

In physical terms, this show is much about what happens at my studio. I do not have a rational explanation for this ... for now ... I think it takes time ..
 Eu vou pro meu studio. I go to my studio. I listen music. I can even say that this exhibition has some themes: "I 'll Keep On Holding On" by Marvelettes has been in my head since the end of last year ... a crazy addiction. It started the same way as Bowie's "Up the Hill Backwards" when I was in a Cologne residence, minus 15 degrees, my knee half broken, and the feeling that all was "fucked up." In these girls’ song you find this evil patience "No matter where you run, boy No matter where 

you hide, boy Oh you'll never get away, boy ... "... hahaha that was and is a bit the way I see and live the world today.  It's not easy for anyone, everyone knows ..... But I'm still here.
I’ll present a series of sculptures that I titled "masks". . They are made of a gigantic amount of materials. There's an interesting thing here: I didnt do any prior research on ritualistic masks but they have something very mysterious about it. They are among the totally mundane, the garbage (one of the cliches always attributed to my work that ... I actually think it's a mistake ... the notion of what GARBAGE is a very peculiar thing ....) and the almost religious thing that surrounds this .

There's another nice thing about this show ... I use some of the works of other artists of my generation as a starting point to talk about the city and how it changed. A certain tension between different weights, temperatures, in short, the nature of the materials that I use like marble, bronze, fabric or EVERYTHING THAT WAS ON THE GROUND OF MY STUDIO is one of the arms of the show. The show is very physical. Each sculpture tells a story that mixed with the others, forms a rather linear puzzle. But there's a story here. I do not make boring exhibitions. That is the only certainty.

Adriano Costa (1975, São Paulo) lives and works in São Paulo, Brazil. 
His solo exhibitions include: wetANDsomeOLDstuffVANDA-LIZEDbyTHEartist, Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2018); B A I L  E, Instituto Tomie Ohtake, São Paulo (2018); DearMeatCutsDevilMayCry, David Kordansky Gallery, Los Angeles (2016); Every Camel Tells a Story, Mendes Wood DM, São Paulo (2015).
                         Aditionally, his work has been included in institutional group exhibitions as
Everyday Poetics, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle (2017); Frucht & Faulheit, Lothringer13 Halle, Munich (2017); IMAGINE BRAZIL, Astrup Fearnley Museet, Oslo & Musee D’Art Contemporain de Lyon, Lyon (2014).