Small Fires
2012
Tonico Lemos Auad's ephemeral installations oscillate between the mundane and the magical. In making Small Fires, the artist scratched away the labels on more than eighty tin cans, leaving behind a single image, such as a lemon, a rooster, or floral motifs that float on a monochromatic silver backdrop. The objects read simultaneously as nonprecious—a group of empty cans, ordinary pieces of refuse—and as unique works, with their commercial markings reduced to one enigmatic icon. Arranged as a group, they form a strange and provisional skyline in miniature.
Scratched tin cans in 85 parts
Gift of Janice Niemi and Dennis Braddock
2017.27
Provenance: The artist; [CRG Gallery, New York]; purchased by Dennis Braddock and Janice Niemi, Seattle, Washington, September 22, 2012
Photo: Mark Woods