Untitled 2015

I’m looking at this “Untitled” piece by Rodrigo Franzao, and it seems to be some kind of textile sculpture, with burgundy fabric held up on a metal stand, pierced and sprouting with coppery tendrils. I am imagining Rodrigo, who was born in 1982, painstakingly working on this piece, maybe even ripping the fabric to make that long slash down the middle and creating that clustered surface of dimples, with the copper wire erupting through the membrane as if by some spontaneous generation. He’s really taken that burgundy fabric and pushed it to the limits. I think of artists like Lucio Fontana who wanted to go beyond the canvas. I think Rodrigo is asking: how do we break through, get to the other side, maybe get to the raw underbelly of things? For me, this piece is all about that conversation with other artists, of course, but also the kind of expression that embraces being totally unsure about the outcome and letting the work itself lead the way. It’s that feeling of being a little lost, a little uncertain, and finding something new in the process.