CILDO MEIRELES
London; Barcelona: Tate; Museu d´Art Contemporani de Barcelona, 2009; Houston: Museum of Fine Arts, 06/07/09-09/27/09; Barcelona: MACBA, 09/22/09-02/07/10;Los Angeles: LACMA, 10/22/09-01/17/10;Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 03/27/10-6/27/10. b/w and color plates, ind., cat., color picts. wrps. Item #2000329
ISBN: 9788489771734
On the floor, a sea of broken glass, which crackles and crunches underfoot time and time again. Before your eyes, a maze in which there are no walls, only prison bars, fences, curtains, aquariums with translucent fish swimming around, their bones easily visible to the naked eye, mosquito nets, metal stakes and chicken wire. In the middle, a giant ball of crumpled cellophane paper. It is uncommon for the spectator to be able to penetrate 'Através' (Through, 1983-1989), a work that is also a puzzle and which, due to its enormous size, is almost never exhibited. But the public can now stroll through it in the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA), as a result of the largest international exhibition ever dedicated to the work of the Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles (Río de Janeiro, 1948), awarded last year with the Velazquez Prize for Visual Arts. This is possible not only because the display presents the biggest collection of "large-scale" works by this pioneer of the installation ever assembled in one setting, but also because it enables the public to review his entire artistic career, from 1967 to the present day, by means of some eighty pieces both large and small: from a "ring bomb" which houses a capsule of compressed gunpowder in its interior, is fitted with a lens and explodes when exposed to sunlight, to the immense 175m2 room that is 'Através' (Through). The exhibition, which was inaugurated last October at the Tate Modern (London), occupies the museum's entire second floor as well as the interior of the MACBA Capella. In the works of Cildo Meireles, space acquires "physical, geometrical, historical, psychological, topological and anthropological" connotations. There is no hierarchy of sizes or scales; or of materials. A minute object can become monumental, while an immense work can turn out to be oppressively limited. Like 'Cruzeiro do Sul' (Southern Cross, 1969-1970), a diminutive wooden cube that encompasses an entire cosmogony, and 'Através' (Through, 1969-1970) which, despite the enormity of its dimensions and the disparity of objects employed in its production, recreates an oppressive enclosure.
Este catálogo muestra la obra de Cildo Meireles, artista brasileño y uno de los mayores exponentes del arte conceptual en Brasil. A partir de sus obras, trata temas políticos, sociales y culturales sobre el mundo del arte, la globalización y lo cotidiano.
Price: $25.00