Studio Visits

Thiago Rocha Pitta‘s studio somewhat reminds of a laboratory, in which he experiments with different raw materials and the elements fire, water, air, and earth as well as iron and minerals. He tries out different effects in smaller scale, which will later lead to the large sized canvases, glass plates or other foundations his substances are destined to penetrate and alter. In his studio, he keeps different glasses filled with iron powder and small canvases on which the iron has been applied and sprinkled with water, thus setting off the process of oxidation. By changing the amount of iron, water and the respective position of the elements on the canvas, Thiago finds different ways of creating his paintings that seem to be producing themselves rather than evolving by the interference of the artist‘s hand and brushstroke.



Another piece Thiago is experimenting with consists of glass panes he applies salt to, which grows up and forms shapes of mountains made up of minerals. When I visit the exhibition Paralela 2010 a few weeks after the studio visit, I see another of these works, in which salt crystals climb up glass plates that are placed in a water basin. Thiago‘s work is in a way hermetic and his conceptual line pervades almost all of his creations. The issues he deals with have to do with nature, time, inevitable change, and processes as natural phenomena, as well as the relation us humans can establish towards them. Time plays an important role and is introduced as a factor, which favours the process and leads to growth. But it also leaves traces of its deteriorating effects, when the canvas is covered, transformed and the stains of iron do not only resemble Warhol‘s oxidation paintings but also remind of rust and decay.
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