The Hispanic Society Museum & Library presents Adriana Varejão: Não Esqueça, Viemos dos Trópicos, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by renowned Brazilian artist Adriana Varejão. The show features new paintings from Varejão’s acclaimed Plate series and a site-specific outdoor sculptural intervention.
The new works reflect on the Amazon rainforest as a vital nexus of ecology, art, and culture. Stemming from Varejão’s participation in the inaugural Bienal das Amazônias (2023), they also mark two decades since the artist began conducting research with the Yanomami people in the Amazon basin. The exhibition debuts the latest additions to Varejão’s celebrated Plate series, inspired by historical Palissy ceramics. These large-scale fiberglass tondos feature protruding three-dimensional elements, hand-sculpted and painted in oil. The front of each plate is adorned with lush images of Amazonian flora and fauna, while the back evokes designs from historical ceramics in the Hispanic Society’s collection and beyond, including Spanish Valenciana, Ottoman Iznik, Hongzhi-era Ming Dynasty porcelain, and pre-Columbian Amazonian Marajoara ceramics.
In front of the museum, Varejão activates Anna Hyatt Huntington’s 1927 equestrian statue of El Cid with a monumental sculptural intervention. In this new site-specific work, a vibrant painted fiberglass sucuri (Amazonian anaconda) coils around the bronze warrior, confronting the statue’s symbolism of imperialism, masculinity, and man’s domination over nature.
In addition to producing new works, Varejão curated a selection of historical ceramic plates from the Hispanic Society’s collection to display alongside her Plate series. By placing these ceramics in dialogue with her monumental paintings, she raises provocative questions about aesthetic hierarchies. Historically, ceramics have been relegated to “craft” or “decorative arts,” secondary to painting and sculpture. Varejão challenges these premises, creating sculptural paintings inspired by past ceramics. Her works blur these boundaries, demonstrating how ceramics, with their evolutionary essence and origins in all cultures, can engage with contemporary issues and enrich our understanding of art.
The title of the exhibition, Não Esqueça, Viemos dos Trópicos, is both a homage to Brazil’s natural and cultural vitality and a tribute to one of its illustrious artists, Maria Martins, who famously declared: “Não esqueça, eu venho dos Trópicos.” This embrace of tropical and baroque aesthetics celebrates the vibrancy of the Latin American world.
Who is Adriana Varejão
Adriana Varejão is one of the most celebrated contemporary Brazilian artists.
The artist was born in Rio de Janeiro in November 1964, but spent much of her childhood in Brasília.
In 1981, she enrolled in an engineering course, but dropped out the following year.
In 1983, Adriana took her first steps into the visual arts world. She soon set up her first studio in Rio de Janeiro.
Two years later, she traveled to New York, where she came into contact with great painters who influenced her work.
In 1986, she won the first of many awards—the Acquisition Prize at the 9th National Visual Arts Salon of Funarte (RJ).
In 1988, already recognized in Brazil, she participated in the Brasil Já exhibition at the Morsbroich Museum in Leverkusen, Germany, and began to gain international recognition.
Adriana Varejão’s works can be found in important museums such as the Tate Modern (London), the Guggenheim (New York), and the Hara Museum in Tokyo.
In Brazil, her most famous pieces are on display at Inhotim Centro de Arte Contemporânea in Minas Gerais.
Where: The Hispanic Society Museum & Library
When: March 27 to June 22, 2025
More information: https://hispanicsociety.org
Source: The Hispanic Society Museum & Library