Esqueleto Glóbulos, 2001
Polyamide tulle, styrofoam pellets, sand 450 x 470 x 1475 cm
For over 20 years, Ernesto Neto has unfolded a body of sculptural work using sheer nylon fabric to enclose such constitutive elements as polystyrene pellets and spices, which in turn give the sculptures their shape and smell. Together with the space they occupy, those large -often room-size– sculptural elements form installations that address the body and the senses and reflect upon the body in relation to space and architecture. Sometimes referred to as “experience sculptures”, they are most of the time to be penetrated by the visitor, who then immerses her/himself in this other– biomorphic–body. The title of this work refers directly to the biomorphic quality. In the artist’s words: “…Esqueleto Glóbulos has organic meanings in two ways: both the structure and the content. Esqueleto is the textile, which, in the end, is the skeleton of the piece, and gravity pulls it downward. That is, gravity works on the content, the glóbulos, and the content is held together by the esqueleto. The skin generates the limit, so the skin and the skeleton are kind of the same thing in this situation ...” The piece is made of various chambers, all evoking organic structures, as well as an architectural environment.
