Bairro
Arquitecturas de la locura

Artist name

León Ferrari

Artist year born

1920

Artist year deceased

2013

Artwork make date

1980-2000

Artwork title translation

Neighbourhood
Architecture of Madness

Artwork material

paper
diazotype

Artwork dimensions

height: 110cm
width: 240cm

Artwork type (categories)

Print

Accession method

Donated by León Ferrari 2001

Accession number

10:4-2001

Label text

Bairro is one of the larger plans within the Arquitecturas de la locura (Architecture of Madness)series and contains a variety of symbols and scenes. As if the artist were observing the city with a magnifying glass in order to uncover detailed information, this image seems to zoom-in upon one section of another of Ferrari's plans (entitled Cidade). Within this urban neighbourhood there are large parks and labyrinthine networks of streets and blocks, some containing classrooms; there is even a roundabout complete with a meeting taking place around a table at its centre, and oversized trees surrounded by bureaucrats seated at large conference tables. Here we also encounter many scenes involving beds: as places where the most important human activities take place, Ferrari attributes central significance to the image of the bed. Bairro is from a series of plans depicting urban areas and made by Ferrari when living in São Paulo in the late 1970s and early 80s. As in other works within the series Ferrari has given this work a Portuguese title, reflecting the fact that this was a work produced while he was living in Brazil (rather than his native Argentina) and thus acknowledging the particular urban reality surrounding him at that time.
Gabriela Salgado

Last updated date

2008