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| Lygia Pape, Untitled, 1957 |
Lygia Pape was a Brazilian Neo-Concrete artist whose work not only questioned the aesthetics of geometric abstraction, but also sought to voice her cultural identity while living under an oppressive dictatorship. Also interested in engaging with viewers, her performance
piece Divisor (1968) consists of a large white sheet with holes cut out for participants’ heads to fit through. This created an amorphous blob of people, addressing themes of personal freedom within society. “I always want to invent a new language that's different for me and for others, too,” the artist once mused. “I want to discover new things. Because, to me, art is a way of knowing the world, to see how the world is, of getting to know the world.” Born on April 7, 1927, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Pape would go on to join the Concrete Art movement at the age of 20. Just under 10 years later, the artist along with Brazilian contemporaries Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark would abandon the group to create the new and more experimental Neo-Concrete movement. During the 1970s, Pape’s work became increasingly concerned with Brazilian pop culture, as a dictatorial regime sought to inhibit freedom of expression. Some of her works aimed to maintain Brazil’s tribal cultures in the face of mass industrialization. The artist continued to create art until her death on May 3, 2004 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Today, her works can be found at The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Reina Sofia National Museum in Madrid, and the
Serralves Foundation Museum of Contemporary Art in Porto, Portugal, among others. via artnet
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| Lygia Pape, Drawing, 1955 [Lygia Pape Estate and Galeria Graça Brandăo, Lisboa] |
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