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Vis-à-vis, 2008-2010




                 Vis-à-vis is made up of a pair of horns affixed to magnifying lenses and arranged side by side, on the surface of a rimless convex mirror, commonly used at entrances and exits to building parking lots. The horns and mirror are presented at the “top” of a wooden cylinder lacquered in glossy black.

                 Initially, the cylinder came from the idea of ​​having that arrangement emerging from a kind of black barrel, like a pit, black but reflective. To achieve this, this cylindrical wooden surface underwent a process carried out in special cabins, which involved five baths of glossy black lacquer. As in Viravolta, the aim was for the surface to reach a certain degree of reflectivity and shine so as to almost cancel out the volume. Vis-à-vis is 90 cm high, thus positioning itself more or less at the height of the viewer's navel and allowing the viewer to lean over and look at the mirror. The work presents the reflected image of the observer, who is, thus, as if “observed” by him.

                The convex mirror would also suggest an almost floating of the horns, an invitation and a repulsion to touch at the same time. Touching the magnifying glasses or not, the observer in principle could see his image reflected in the mirror from the “eyes” of the magnifying glasses. Presumably, he would see his image reflected in the convex mirror in a kind of narcissistic game. However, this did not happen, as the observer's image ended up being deformed, blurred, due to the overlapping of the reflective surfaces – the magnifying glasses on the convex mirror. Perhaps there lies an aspect of the work that seems to speak of dissolution or, at the limit, destruction of the image.

Thiago Honório, 2010.