NUMÉRO UM
@numeromagazine @numerony
Visual artist Gustavo Barroso was born in São Paulo and raised in New Hampshire, but it was a visit to New York at age 22 that proved transformative. “It was infectious, ,” he recalls. “I was surrounded by young people creating every day-and doing it for a living.” Though Barroso immigrated to the U.S. as a child, he was brought up in a Brazilian household. That duality which he describes as “living within a fishbowl in the ocean,” continues to inform his practice. “Much of my work is influenced by my rapid assimilation to American culture,” he says.
Barroso’s sculptures draw on a wide array of materials-such as wood, foam, metal, glass-and frequently incorporate digital tools such as 3D print-ing and resin casting. His path to art, however, was far from conventional. In high school, he learned to silkscreen and began printing graphic T-shirts, which sparked an early interest in design. “I realized industrial designers are behind nearly everything that’s manufactured,” he recalls. He went on to study product design, and although he eventually shifted away from the discipline, its methods and structural logic continue to inform his sculptural practice.
For Headstand Chair (2025), made from bio-plastic, plaster, and acrylic paint, Barroso digitally manipulated a 3D scan of a Windsor chair, printed the form, turned it upside down, and coated it in vivid electric blue paint. “It’s my first human-scale sculpture that uses a chair as a muse but isn’t meant to be sat in,” he says. “It’s a Windsor chair doing a hand-stand. If you flip it, it looks like a zombie.’
Whimsical and unsettling, the work captures Barroso’s fascination with identity, transformation, and the surreal potential of the everyday.
Credits:
Photography:
@ericchakeen
Styling:
@alexgfisher
Creative Director:
@oliviawindisch
Talent:
@isabel_rower @thee_zebulon @wentrcek_zebulon @gustavobarroso.eth @minjaekim @richaybar
Contributing Feature Editor:
@emma.v.reeves
Groomer:
@trangnguyen.co
Tailoring:
@Carol_Ai_Studio
Production:
@brennasmit @henstoothproductions 
