SOFT BRUTALISM

Honeycombed cardboard, aerated concrete, mortar
170 x 54 x 40 cm

This work is part of a new reflection by the artist initiated in the context of the exhibition City of Stars presented at the Galerie Nathalie Obadia in Paris in 2019. All the architectural sculptures presented in this exhibition followed the orientation of the technical drawings of the buildings by the French architect Jean Renaudie. They emphasise the diagonals and lack of symmetry that nevertheless respond to the strategy of organising the space. This work is particularly notable for the poor materials used: honeycomb cardboard, cellular concrete and mortar. This sculpture, made entirely by the artist’s own hands, like an imprecise model, makes a utopian architecture tangible and critically explores the social and political narratives intrinsic to these living spaces. The base, composed of alternating concrete and cardboard, affirms the brutalist character of these creations and creates an ambiguous dialogue between the different scales. The work of Rodrigo Matheus is resolutely ambivalent: by giving a poetic intimacy to the rawest materials, the artist establishes a perilous balance.