Art Basel Unlimited: Luiz Zerbini: Os Comedores de Terra / The Earth Eaters

Sikkema Malloy Jenkins, Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, and Stephen Friedman Gallery jointly present Os Comedores de Terra / The Earth Eaters (2025) by Luiz Zerbini for Art Basel Unlimited 2025. Os Comedores de Terra is a 360-degree installation comprised of a five-meter painting and vibrantly colored sculptures that emulate precious stones and ore. Together, they create an immersive space in which an apocalyptic narrative unfolds, melding images of destruction with mesmerizing textures and visual effects.

Zerbini constructs his composition through documents regarding illegal gold mines in the Amazon, transforming them into a haunting view of a landscape scarred by extractive processes like logging and slash-and-burn farming. In the center of the canvas, a pit of rainbow-colored gasoline oozes and swirls in a mass, forming a shimmering film over the water’s surface as columns of fire rise among felled trees. The foreground is marked by lush foliage and flowers, standing in stark contrast to the ghostly scenes of devastation occupying the background. In this political and ecological investigation, Zerbini reflects on how industrial economies threaten the survival of Indigenous peoples and modes of existence.