Saturday, March 11, 2017

Hélio Oiticica: a retrospective exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago—


Hélio Oiticica, (Brazilian, 1937–1980)
NC1 Small Nucleus (foreground), (NC1 Núcleo pequeno 1)
1960
Oil on wood, mirror
photograph by versluis 2017

Hélio Oiticica: To Organize Delirium is on display at the AIC, Regenstein Hall, through May 7, 2017. In the late 1950s, Oiticica’s painterly and suspended constructions that are pulled from the gallery wall to interact/engage with the space of the viewer. The gallery label for the piece pictured above states:

Like the Bilaterals and Spatial Reliefs, Oiticica’s Nuclei are made up of forms suspended from the ceiling. Clustered together, so that viewers have to walk around to pieces to fully experience them—they represent an early exploration of architectural space for the artist. Oiticica’s aspiration to integrate the viewer into the work itself is made literal here through he reflection provided by the mirror. Oiticica’s goal was to give color an independent physical presence apart form the form on which it appeared.

From the collection of César and Claudio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro

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