Studio Visits

Tatiana Blass’ performance “Metade da Fala no Chão - Piano Surdo” (Half of the Speech on the Floor – Deaf Piano – 2010) at this year’s Sao Paulo Biennial caught my attention: During the opening of the exhibition, two actors spilled hot wax over a piano while a pianist was performing Chopin. The wax did not only change the tone of the instrument and turned the music mute, but also infiltrated the chords, keys and lacquer. The hot material became stiff and interfered with the functionality of the piano, wrecked it and at the same time proposed a beautiful new sculpture, leaving the dessicating material on the floor as trace of the performance. Having played the piano for years myself, this work left a strong impact on me. For those who would like to see the artist’s comment (in Portuguese) check out:


I visit Tatiana Blass in her spatious studio that is integrated into the lower floor of her house. Apart from her numerous works around musical instruments, such as a trombone whose function is denied with the tubes bending into a circle (“Trombone de vara” (Trombone - 2008) from the series “Metade da Fala no Chão”), I became interested in meeting her when I saw her paintings of dogs and airplanes. I was wondering how these two figures whose connection did not seem quite obvious to me came together in her multilayered paintings.
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