Cuadrado
Arquitecturas de la locura

Artist name

Artist year born

1920

Artist year deceased

2013

Artwork make date

1987

Artwork title translation

Square
Architecture of Madness

Artwork material

paper
diazotype

Artwork dimensions

height: 100cm
width: 100cm

Artwork type (categories)

Print

Accession method

Donated by León Ferrari 2001

Accession number

63-2001

Label text

Cuadrado is another take on the motif explored by Ferrari in his series Arquitecturas de la locura (Architecture of Madness). This piece, executed on a square piece of paper by stamping readymade print sets in an obsessive repetition, defines an impossible situation: a large number of human figures representing walking men and women seen from above. The distribution of the figures produces a square made of four sections, two vertical and two horizontal, intersecting in the corners. Starting from the left edge of the paper, there is a row of little people walking down. At the base of the paper they walk to the right, on the right side they walk upwards and the ones at the top go to the left, all in an anticlockwise pursuit.

The centre of the image is empty. When seen from afar the design made of rows running along the edges becomes a cross, foremost symbol of Christian religion. Ferrari has used icons and references to Christianity in his work throughout his career, occasionally provoking criticism and censorship. In the case of Cuadrado the symbol of the cross is perceived in opposition, by focusing on the areas where the characters do not meet.
Gabriela Salgado

Last updated date

2008