“The new work of art is not stagnant. This new object placed within the sensible world [becomes] an active object.” This description of Willys de Castro’s Active Object series appeared in the Brazilian magazine Habitat in 1960. At the time, the artist was working on a group of sculptures and painted wall reliefs in which he often wrapped a wooden plank or pole with painted canvas. The rhythmic color-block patterns of these works call attention to their edges and invite the viewer to circle them, “activating” the space between object and audience, a central ambition of the Neo-Concrete artists.
Sur moderno: Journeys of Abstraction—The Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Gift, October 21, 2019–March 14, 2020
Gallery label from 2010.
Between 1959 and 1963 De Castro made a series of sculptures and painted wall reliefs he called Active Objects. The simple, rhythmic color pattern in this work shifts as a viewer circles it, "activating" the space between object and viewer. In 1959 De Castro joined the Brazilian Neo-Concrete art movement, which in its founding manifesto cites Piet Mondrian as a "true artist." Like Mondrian, Neo-Concretists believed in the power of abstract art to communicate universally, transcending specific circumstances. De Castros work was included in the 1960 exhibition Concrete Art: 50 Years of Development, organized in Zurich by Max Bill.
Provenance
The artist.
1996 - 2010, Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York, and Caracas, purchased through Sylvio Nery da Fonseca, Escritório de Arte.
2010, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, acquired as promised gift from Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.
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Willys de Castro
Brazilian, 1926–1988 20 works onlineArtist Willys de Castro also worked as a graphic and industrial designer , composer, poet, and technical draftsman. Whether figuring out a problem or rehearsing a theme, his geometric compositions often seem like exercises or prototypes .
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