PRA QUE [WHAT FOR]
Pra Que [What For] license plate in aluminum and epoxy powder
coating, 2007-09
Circulation of Pra Que [What For] in carts of recyclable waste
Pra Que [What For] Pinacotheca of the São Paulo, 2017
The use of license plates brings with it the identity
of objects in motion /circulation, that is to say, of a type of urban,
automotive mobility that thrived with the industrialization and modernization
of cities – principally, in Brazil, since the early nineteenth century –, and
is currently the greatest of pollutants because of its toxic gas emissions. In
lieu of the aforementioned code, the artist inserts another poetic "code"
of textual language that allows for a broad and almost unlimited field of
reading. Each completely white plate, bearing a single word in relief, exists
in and of itself as a sculptural object and as a visual and textual sign. Words
possess the imagistic condensation and individual meaning that are typical of
poetry and, togetherm they form a set of possible relationships that enhance
one another.
The use of license plates brings with it the identity of objects in motion /circulation, that is to say, of a type of urban, automotive mobility that thrived with the industrialization and modernization of cities – principally, in Brazil, since the early nineteenth century –, and is currently the greatest of pollutants because of its toxic gas emissions. In lieu of the aforementioned code, the artist inserts another poetic "code" of textual language that allows for a broad and almost unlimited field of reading. Each completely white plate, bearing a single word in relief, exists in and of itself as a sculptural object and as a visual and textual sign. Words possess the imagistic condensation and individual meaning that are typical of poetry and, togetherm they form a set of possible relationships that enhance one another.
Joana Corona, poet and visual artist, in Words in Transit,
Objects in Question, text of the book Eliane Prolik, 2011 – Curitiba, Brazil