TRILHA SONORA III | JOSÉ DAMASCENO

The practice of José Damasceno (Rio de Janeiro, 1968) explores sensoriality and how the viewer experiences the artwork, creating objects and site-specific installations that push the boundaries of classical sculptural form. Wood, paper, canvas, and cement are just some of the materials used by this versatile artist, who finds his language in experimentation.

Trilha Sonora III (2002) is a work consisting of hundreds of identical hammers hung along the wall of the exhibition space, creating an undulating composition that, in the naturalistic sense of form, evokes the profile of a mountain range or a rippling water surface. Otherwise, conceptually it may appear as a graph of sound waves, curves that may have been caused precisely by a hammer blow, an object that in this installation traces their own outline.

The meaning of the artwork bounces between its form and its identity, a harmonious and disturbing dichotomy, simple and absurd, playful and aggressive. Thus, Damasceno stages a true reversal of form, involving and blending the meaning of drawing and installation in a work whose result is definitely captivating.

Damasceno urges the viewer to question the meaning of that situation, of that atypical composition that does not seem to have a definite beginning and end, but unfolds across the entire wall and presents itself as a whole. However, the artist does not provide any answers; rather, he seems to want to involve the viewer in his own experimentation.

José Damasceno
Trilha Sonora III, 2002
Hammers, dimensions variable
© José Damasceno. Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery. Photo: Pedro Motta.

23/03/24