HUGO FRANÇA
"Geometrized Tree" 2016
Saint Terezinha Sculpture, Jackfruit Wood
6,50m
Geometrized Tree is a unique sculpture created from a dead jackfruit tree that Hugo created and installed in one of the lakes at the Usina, representing the structure of a tree.
“Artistic Furniture” – miscellaneous 2016 to 2019
Spread throughout the Usina de Arte park we can find a series of about 30 benches made of jackfruit trees. He was the first to encourage the creation of the Usina de Arte project and to have organized creative and artistic workshops and environmental education with the surrounding community.
Hugo França
Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, 1954
He currently divides his time between São Paulo and Trancoso, Bahia
www.hugofranca.com.br
Hugo França was born in Porto Alegre, in 1954. In search of a life closer to nature, he moved to Trancoso, Bahia, in the early 1980s, where he lived for 15 years. There, he noticed the degree of waste in the extraction and use of wood, an experience that guided his work. Since the late 1980s, he has been developing “furniture sculptures”, an expression first used by the critic Ethel Leon and adopted by the designer for its precision in describing the production he makes from forest and urban waste - trees condemned naturally, by weathering or by the action of mankind.
The pieces created by the artist are born from a creative dialogue with the raw material: everything begins and ends with the tree. Trees are his inspiration; their shapes, holes, cracks, scorch marks, and the action of time provoke his sensibility and lead him to a carefully chosen design, a minimal intervention that generates unique pieces.
Self-taught designer-artist, who talks about his sculpture-like furniture coming from forest waste. Hugo França’s work involves transforming logs, roots, and parts of trees that are normally discarded. With this raw material, he draws directly on the wood following the paths that were created by nature. In the production, he gives a new meaning to the use of the chainsaw by carving trunks and roots and giving the works a sustainable and sculptural aspect.
