Gruta
Rio de Janeiro, Brasil
September 27 – 2 October 2016
10 x 20 x 6 m
Invited by curator Isabel Portella to exhibit at Intervenções Urbanas Art Rio ‘16 in the stunning gardens of the Museu da República, Rio de Janeiro, Penique created Gruta.
We were delighted to be one of only fifteen artists exhibiting sculpture and installation at Art Rio, the most prestigious art fair of the city and the second largest in Brazil.
Gruta was the transformation of a garden grotto – its cavernous, stonewalled space defined by a striking pink, the inflatables bulbous extremities protruding from every possible exit point.
Viewed from distance, the natural elements of the park, ironically man-made themselves, juxtaposed with the inflatable, a violent bubblegum pink when exposed in the sunlight.
Once inside the inflatable, colour and texture was transformed by ambient lighting, giving a mysterious warm glow. The wrinkled walls, the inflatable’s personality, echoed the curvature of the grotto – their formation relative to the air pressure inside.
The transformed grotto – its irregular structure and organic environment – resembled the internal organs of a living body.
