NUNO RAMOS: blackandblue (DETAIL), 2000, SAND, OIL, AND GLASS. COMMISSIONED BY THE MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, SAN DIEGO. COURTESY OF CAMARGO VILAÇA, SÃO PAULO.

In conjunction with Ultrabaroque: Aspects of Post-Latin American Art and MCASD's Pan-American Project series, the Museum has commissioned Brazilian artist Nuno Ramos to create a new site-specific installation for its downtown space. Organized by MCASD Senior Curator Elizabeth Armstrong, this marks Ramos' first major commission in the United States. A renowned artist in his own country, Ramos makes large-scale paintings and sculptures that emphasize the creative process through primal and intuitive methods and utilize visceral and non-conventional matter.

Amalgamations of sand, wax, oil, wood, glass, and other materials, his works reveal both a sense of exuberance and physical fragility. Ramos' new pieces for the MCASD are three massive sculptures comprised of dense black sand and glass vials filled with oil. The contrast between the solid bulk of the sand blocks and the languid forms of the oil-filled glass creates a poetic tension. The notion of paradox embodied in these massive, yet precarious sculptures and the installation's mix of monumentality and temporality creates a profound sense of presence and wonder.

This exhibition is part of the Museum's Pan-American Project series, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the California Arts Council; and the Wallace-Reader's Digest Funds.