Amilcar de Castro at Galeria Marilia Razuk

Considered by the critics one of the greatest sculptors of contemporary art in Brazil, Amilcar de Castro, who died in 2002, left a great legacy and influenced several generations of Brazilian sculptors.

Galeria Marilia Razuk aims to show a selection of works that enhance the comprehension of the history and importance of Amilcar de Castro‘s career. With a historical theme, the exhibition space will feature a selection, specifically seven sculptures, of works that pertain the most significant phases of the artistis career, the 50’s and 60’s.

One of the works presented is de Castro‘s first concrete sculpture made in 1952-53, entitled “Estrela” (Star). Considered by him the first and only true sculpture that he ever made, all sculptures posterior are known to be an unfolding of the first. The continuity of this unique sculpture is demarked by a new phase: the Cut and Fold series, which sculptures are slit and physically folded with no solder. Through these years de Castro continues these series experimenting mostly with iron.

Amilcar de Castro became one of the leaders of the Neo-Concrete Movement in 1959 Brazil after signing the Neo Concrete Manifest – written by Ferreira Gullar – together with artists such as Lygia Pape, Lygia Clark, Franz Weissmann. This group manifested against the orthodox constructivists and the geometric dogmatism of the time, they sought new paths defending the liberty of experimentation, suggesting that art was not just a mere object, but something sensitive, subjective that goes beyond pure geometricism.

In the end of the second decade (1968), Amilcar went to the United States through Guggeinheim Memorial Foundation’s scholarship. There, marking a new phase in his work, instead of using iron, Amilcar started to develop sculptures composed by unified plains, no longer by bending, but by rings that connect stainless steel sheets. As Amilcar once said, “Try experiences, in which the space is realized by movement, in the surprise of balance.”