Galeria Adriana Varejão - Tacoa Arquitetos

The ‘Galeria Adriana Varejão’ by Tacoa Arquitetos is located in Brumadinho, a village near Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais state. Brazil is seeing a cultural explosion that celebrates it diverse cultural melting pot. With the upcoming 2016 Rio Olympics on the horizon and a relatively booming economy Brazil has a lot to celebrate and art I one medium in which they are doing so.

The Inhotim complex consists of twenty exhibition pavilions that offer a broad collective of art works, displayed outdoors as well as in temporary and permanent galleries, located inside a Botanical Garden of extraordinary beauty. Ever since its outset as a Brazilian cultural institution, Inhotim’s aim has been to create an art collection and museum that allows the public access to cultural assets. It pavilions spread out in a park of approximately 35 hectares, the Galeria Adriana Varejão creates an experience from viewing art by connecting it to the landscape in which its recedes.

The building structure is composed by an irregular retaining wall that creates the space within the lower floors. Its cool geometric exterior reflects and complements the contemporary art in which its houses.

The art collection comprises of over 500 works, by artists of national and international renown, such as Adriana Varejão, Helio Oiticica, Cildo Meireles among many others. Inhotim distinguishes itself from other museums by offering artists unique conditions for developing their art right inside the park. Along side this, its Botanical Gardens has impressive collections with incredible variety, with over 1400 species of palm trees alone.

Helen Dugdale

Within a year of graduating from Bucks New University studying Textiles and Surface Design, Helen Dugdale has already won a sting of design awards, including New Design Britain 2012 awards at Interiors UK. Innovation and reinvention has lead to the development and creation of her beautiful paper-wood.

Helen had developed a collection of Up-Cycled wood, created from both paper and wood waste. Her designs form sustainable recyclable veneers that react and used in a similar way to conventional woods. Adjusting the direction of the cut reveals differing layers of colour, altering the grain pattern of the material, which can be selected and tailored to clients’ wishes.

The ability to create and design unconventional surfaces for interiors, exteriors and products has seen a serge in demand, as emerging Surface Designers and Makers, push the limits and blurred the boundaries of ‘traditional’ materials. You can find more information on her Website.

Katja Novitskova

Katja Novitskova is an artist who I have always felt is part of the ‘new wave’ of great artists of our generation. Born in Tallin, Estonia and currently based in Amsterdam, her work emphasizes the nature of the synthetic and man-made in contact within our relationship with the natural world. Her creations are often framed in a way that connects to the worlds of advertising, consumerism, history and nature.

Novitskova’s manipulation and presentation of form and nature create compositions as contemporary still-life objects encourage us to think about the world around us. Instantly recognisable symbolism found within consumerism are altered and reflect in a more organic way. Her work raises questions within the boundaries of an increasingly humanised, natural world.

‘We as species are able to manipulate matter in advanced ways, making it unrecognizable as nature even to us.’

Taking full advantage of digital mediums, Novitskova often combines imagery and text collected from the internet.  This is most notably seen within her ‘earth calls’ composition, which comprises of collages assembled from Google Earth landscapes, along with images of young men found on Tumblr, part of the E-publication from Badlands Unlimited, How To Download a Boyfriend.

Kateja Novitskova’s take on the culture in which we live, is refreshing. She utilises modern technology and symbolism to create art that is truly contemporary. One to watch and soon to become a rising star in the art world. Check out her Website for more information.