Side Gallery

Barros would naturally include the warmth of tropical woods in his work. Jacaranda de Bahia, or Brazilian rosewood, is a noble tropical wood from the forests of Brazil - the country of tropical wood par excellence. Its robustness, distinguished appearance and softness made it a much sought-after material, initially for making musical instruments, and eventually for designing furniture. Its refined arrangement of movements of water, with alternating regions of darker and lighter wood, give it a distinct personality, with colours and tones, unique to jacaranda. These aesthetic qualities, with beautiful purple-brown and black veins, made the wood a staple for designers and furniture makers of 20th Century Brazil. Geraldo de Barros’ aesthetic influences derived from European avant-garde culture, from De Stijl and Bauhaus to Gestalt psychology, Barros would favour the softness of this wood to create his furniture. From then on, as a lover of the precious species of wood of his country, Geraldo de Barros designed some of the most beautiful furniture of his country in rosewood.

The bookcase exhibited during Design Miami/ Basel was the ostensible masterpiece of the booth. Produced by Unilabor In 1955 and commissioned for the family home of one of its members, the bookcase is made of jacaranda wood with brass details. The bookcase model is adaptable and capable of infinite configurations. The versatility and assembly possibilities allow for a multitude of utilisation purposes, the kind of ingenuity most representative of the production philosophy of Unilabor. Side Gallery acquired the bookcase and oversaw its seamless surface restoration. The approach was aimed at respecting the history and integrity of the piece, while also producing an enduring masterpiece. With relatively minor loss or need for extensive rebuilding - the scope of the restoration involved conservation cleaning, painting, removing scratches, and repairing some damage to the veneer. The bookcase had suffered natural age-related wear and tear; likely exacerbated by climatic conditions. The veneer was therefore detached from the solid jacaranda wood, some missing pieces were replaced with small samples of jacaranda, this replacement was patinated for a seamless match with the existing veneer. While smaller chips to the veneer were restored with the use of a special resin. These sections of veneer were then relaid in the traditional way and once reaffixed the bookcase was polished to replicate the original finish. With an in-depth knowledge of the works of Geraldo de Barros and significant restoration expertise, the bookcase was revived as perhaps one of the most beautiful pieces of Brazilian design, or at least one that makes full use of the beauty of Jacaranda wood.

Side Gallery’s booth also consisted of several of the photographic works of Geraldo de Barros made between 1949 and 1954. The photographs included experimental subjects that mix classic photographic procedures with creative visual experiments. Geraldo de Barros’s artistic trajectory put him at the forefront of experimental photography, and in 1951 he held the Fotoformas exhibition at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo. In the Fotoforma photographs, Barros employed photography as a process of construction. With photographs of construction materials as his building blocks. Barros rebuilt urban space by layering his negatives with artistic interventions, drawing attention to the tenuousness of São Paulo’s urban structure. The experimental form of Barros’ works, as well as his interest in vernacular spaces, created a place for marginalised narratives to enter the dialogue of Brazilian modernisation. Barros’ varied technical approaches broadened the scope of Brazilian modern photography, incorporating visual and theoretical references.