Richard is proud to present the Brazilian artist Gustavo Prado first solo exhibition in its New York gallery from April 30th to June 22, 2019. Assembly: the title of this show references both Prado labor-intensive practices of assembling his work, as well as the gathering together of religious congregations. For this exhibition, Prado presents sculptures from the Measure of Dispersion Series (2014-ongoing) and works from the Ascension Series (2019-ongoing). Both employ off-the-shelf materials, which Prado activates in unconventional ways that enable viewers to recognize their source and the deviation from their intended use. By these means, Prado investigates cultural assumptions and probes questions of perception, self, and purpose.

Gustavo Prado also faces economical and ecological issues by rethinking the modes of production by sculptors. At the opposite of Richard Serra and the highly costly processes engaged into the building, the shipping and, the installation of massive heavy sculptures, Gustavo Prado selects available materials that he can find everywhere and he creates his works by getting and assembling the elements in the cities of their exhibition spaces.

The works in Measure of Dispersion play with the spectators’perception of self within a space by manipulating their vision by using concave and convex mirrors attached to industrial metallic structures.The resulting sculptures are something akin to an anti-camera that scrambles the viewer’s vantage point and intensifies a sense of (dis)location. Rather than capturing a specific, selected moment like a camera shutter, the mirrors reflect a fragmented body seen from unexpected angles and in different points in space simultaneously.

In continuing his exploration of the human gaze, Prado’s Ascension Series renders art historical images of religious figures out of thousands of Lego bricks. In doing so, Prado assigns symbolic value to these familiar objects and offers a contrast between the mundane and the spiritual. Prado illustrates that the paradigms through which we interpret our experiences remain rooted in familiar, emotional resonances with the past. In gazing toward the heavens, those religious figures still reflect an enduring aspect of our contemporary minds. The impulse to see ourselves within a larger transcendent plan – somewhat distracted from more pungent earthly challenges.

Gustavo Prado was born in São Paulo in 1981. He studied Philosophy and Industrial Design and received his artistic training at the Escola de Artes Visuals do Parque Lage in Rio de Janeiro. His works have been featured in group shows such as the BRIC Biennial, the Bronx Museum Biennial, and Spring Break Art Show, all in NY; and the Museu de Arte Moderna in Rio de Janeiro and Itaú Cultural in São Paulo. He participated in solo shows at Lurixs Gallery in Rio, and Nara Roesler Gallery in São P. He has works in the collection of the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (MAM-Rio), presented a large installation at the Coachella Music Festival (2017) in California and created a permanent public art installation for Casa Firjan Institute in Rio. Prado received a Public Art Grant from Art Prize 10 and is a recipient of Projéteis Prize from the Brazilian National Foundation for the Arts (Funarte). Prado has participated in public panels such as “An Attempt to Become Modern” at the Americas Magazine. He lives and works in Brooklyn.