In contemporary art practices, artistic positions emerge with an active and critical role towards society's context, thus reflecting on current issues and exposing significant events that, sometimes, are not methodically addressed. Pedro Barateiro frequently refers to current issues, outlining concepts in a multi-layered and codified process. The 2006 sculpture - Untitled (Drifted)
is an example of a formalist portrait of an environmental calamity, a proper symbol of the atrocities of the system that sustains our way of life.

The sculptural form, harmonious and sharp, with a clear attention to detail, seems to portray something dramatic. The sharp, vertical element reminds us of an oil derrick and, given the subtitle of the piece 'Drifted', which can be translated as 'adrift' or 'floating', it seems to be a representation of an oil spill. Such environmental disasters are, unfortunately, frequent. Shortly before the creation of this piece, in September 2004, there was a spill on an oil platform belonging to the Taylor Energy company in the Gulf of Mexico, devastating because of its size and because it is still going on to this day. The impacts on nature are undeniable and irreversible, both in the short and long term, yet they do not seem to prevent future failures. Such accidents remain invisible and untouchable, hidden to ensure the perpetual exploitation of natural resources, but they have serious consequences. The sculpture is presented in an icy white, stylised and devoid of any clear realism, in a chromatic antithesis of the referential components and as an ironic metaphor referring to pure nature, the target of pollution. Such a ghost seems to wander along the space where it is exposed, while it acts as an accusatory monument to the crimes committed by the human being.

DC