![]() Synthetic polymer paint with earth on wood structure, nylon net, corrugated cardboard, mirror, glass, rocks, earth, and fluorescent lamp, 14 1/2 x 51 5/8 x 20 1/2″ (37 x 131.2 x 52.1 cm). Gift of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Paulo Herkenhoff Hélio Oiticica. It is a transparent body in terms of phenomenological knowledge: while being entirely perceptible it leaves no trace. The non-object is not an anti-object but a special object through which a synthesis of sensorial and mental experiences is intended to take place. “The expression ‘non-object,’” writes Gullar, “does not intend to describe a negative object nor any other thing that may be opposite to material objects. Indeed, the concept of the “non-object” perfectly fits the processes that Oiticica would develop during the 1960s. In “Theory of the Non-Object,” another text from 1959, Gullar raises some of the ideas that would be particularly influential in Oiticica’s work and writings. in order to reach an “existential experience.” 4 Ferreira Gullar: “Manifesto e obra,” in ibid, 150. In this context, Oiticica began his theoretical and plastic investigations into the destabilization of the pictorial plane, a pursuit that would lead him to abandon the two-dimensionality of paint on canvas in favor of experimentation in the fields of phenomenology and perception. of precedent movements, directing their research toward “an appraisal of verbal ‘time’ and expression as a lived fact” 3 Ferreira Gullar: “Museu de Arte Moderna: 1a Exposição Neoconcreta,” in ibid, 139. In reaction to what they saw as the excessive rationalism behind contemporary abstraction, Neo-Concretists sought to expand the “expressive conquests” 2 Ferreira Gullar: “Manifesto Neoconcreto,” 144. Renato Rodrigues da Silva and Bruno Melo Monteiro (Rio de Janeiro: Contra Capa, 2015), 143. According to Gullar’s text, “The term neo-Concrete indicates a position vis-à-vis nonfigurative ‘geometric’ art (Neo-Plasticism, Constructivism, Suprematism, the Ulm-School), and, in particular, concrete art taken to a dangerous rationalist extreme.” 1 Ferreira Gullar: “Manifesto Neoconcreto,” in Antologia Crítica: Suplemento Dominical do Jornal do Brasil, eds. ![]() In March 1959, some of the members of Grupo Frente, together with other local artists-including Clark and Lygia Pape (1927–2004)-countersigned the Neo-Concrete manifesto written by the poet and critic Ferreira Gullar (1930–2016) and published in the newspaper Jornal do Brasil to accompany the first Neo-Concrete exhibition, held at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio. In the years that followed, he had his first exhibitions, showing a series of abstract gouaches on cardboard that he called “Metaesquemas” became linked to the Grupo Frente, who advocated abstraction and internationalism and established friendships with the artist Lygia Clark (1920–1988) and the critic Mário Pedrosa (1900–1981), key figures in contemporary Brazilian art. In 1954, Hélio Oiticica began studying painting under Ivan Serpa (1923–1973) at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio. ![]() As a small child, Hélio was educated by private tutors and didn’t receive formal schooling until 1947, when his father was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship and the family moved to Washington, D.C. ![]() ![]() Hélio Oiticica, firstborn son of the entomologist and photographer José Oiticica (Jr.) and grandson of José Oiticica, philologist, founder of the anarchist newspaper Ação direta (Direct action), and author of the book O anarquismo ao alcance de todos (Anarchism accessible to all), was born on July 26, 1937, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Going beyond the context of modern Brazil and its experimental art scene, it traces a wide genealogy for his body of work, from local traditions such as samba to European intellectual figures such as Friedrich Nietzsche. This essay examines them in the context of other writings from 1960s and 70s Brazil as a guide into how the artist approached and developed works such as penetrables (sculptural booths) and parangolés (both costume and ambient proposal). Hélio Oiticica left behind a body of texts, correspondence, and interviews. ![]()
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