Fredone Fone

Lives and works in Serra, Espírito Santo, Brazil

Artist statement

I grew up in Serra Dourada, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Serra, Brazil, accompanying my father, a bricklayer, as he built, repaired, and painted houses. I research the wall as part of a building and part of the lives of those who inhabit it. My experience in construction and skateboarding is present in my painting and the way I work across other spaces and forms. In my paintings, I use the paints, tools, and techniques of residential painting. I am interested in how people build their houses in peripheral neighborhoods, the manual labor involved, and the plans that have to change when there is no enough money to finish what was started. Alongside painting, I work with installation, collage, video, sound, and rap. Sampling, a common practice in rap, also runs through my work in other forms: collecting, selecting, cutting, and combining materials, images, and sounds to give them new uses. In my paintings, I often seek the precision and finish of a house painter. In other works, improvisation, wear, and noise remain visible. Across these ways of working, I explore the struggle for housing, the dream of owning a home, and the ways we build spaces in which to live. These questions also guide my involvement in cultural and political initiatives in peripheral communities.

Artwork