Espírito Santo’s personal interpretation of the minimalist aesthetic has been described by The New York Times as “a pure form of visual perception” and by Frieze magazine as a means to “sort out the chaos of everyday experience”. And yet, despite this distinguished profile on the world stage, Iran do Espírito Santo remains almost unknown in the United Kingdom. This exhibition, for the 2010 Edinburgh Art Festival, will present his first ever one-man show in a British gallery, and only his second ever in Europe.
The focus of any Espírito Santo installation is a transformative wall drawing painstakingly realised in layers of graphite and shades of white, grey and black paint: subtle gradations of tone and hypnotic repetitions of pattern that question the nature of visual experience and representation. These installations require several weeks to complete and Espírito Santo’s proposal for Edinburgh is no exception – the daylight-flooded Ingleby gallery has inspired a scheme that promises to be amongst his most ambitious to date. It will be unveiled alongside a new group of sculptures in marble and black granite.
