- Relevo espacial
- Spatial Relief
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Relevo espacial, from Hélio Oiticica’s Neo-Concrete phase, demonstrates his desire to liberate color into the viewer’s space. Composed of overlapping triangular and quadrilateral panels in various tones of yellow, this painting in cut-out wood explores the impact of light and shadow on a chromatically modulated surface. Suspended from the ceiling, the work appears in three-dimensional space, inviting the viewer to walk around and appreciate the subtle shifts in color, light, and texture. The instability of these elements demonstrates Oiticica’s interest in color as a physical, autonomous element to be experienced by the viewer’s body and senses.
ProvenanceThe artist; Hércules Rubens Barsotti, São Paulo; Adolpho Leirner, São Paulo, June 4, 1991; sold to MFAH, 2005.
Exhibition History"Bienal Brasil Século XX," Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Parque Ibirapuera, Brazil, April–May 1994.
"Arte construtiva no Brasil: Coleção Adolpho Leirner," Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Brazil, October–December 1998; Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro, January–March 1999.
"Mostra do redescobrimento: arte contemporânea - Brasil 500 anos artes visuais," Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, Parque Ibirapuera, Brazil, April–September 2000.
"Século 20: arte do Brasil," Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisbon, October 2000–January 2001.
"Cuasi-corpus: arte concreto y neoconcreto de Brasil," MARCO Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Monterrey, México, July–October 2003; Museo Tamayo Arte Contemporáneo, Mexico City, February–June 2003.
"Dimensions of Constructive Art in Brazil: The Adolpho Leirner Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May–September 2007.
"Color into Light: Selections from the MFAH Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 13, 2008–March 22, 2009.
"Arte latinamericano 1910–2010," Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, September 21, 2011–March 5, 2012.
"Constructed Dialogues: Concrete, Geometric, and Kinetic Art from the Latin American Art Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, September 16, 2012–January 6, 2013.
"Other Primary Structures," The Jewish Museum, New York, March 14–May 18, 2014.
"Postwar - Art between the Pacific and Atlantic 1945-1965," Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany, October 14, 2016–March 26, 2017.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
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