Hélio Oiticica (1937 – 1980) was a Brazilian painter, sculptor, plastic artist and performance artist.
Oiticica's early works, in the mid 1950s, were greatly influenced by European modern art movements, principally Concrete art and De Stijl He was a member of Groupo Frente, founded Ivan Serpa, under whom he had studied painting. His early paintings used a pallete of strong, bright primary and secondary colours and geometric shapes influenced by artists such as Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee and Kazimir Malevich. Oiticica's painting quickly gave way to a much warmer and more subtle pallete of oranges, yellows, reds and browns which he maintained, with some exceptions, for the rest of his life.
In 1959, he established the short-lived Grupo Neoconcreto with the artists Amilcar de Castro, Lygia Clark and Franz Weissmann. This disbanded in 1961.
Colour became a key subject of Oiticica's work and he experimented with paintings and hanging wooden sculptures with subtle (sometimes barely perceptible) differences in colour within or between the sections. The hanging sculptures gradually grew in scale and later works consisted on many hanging sections forming the overall work.
In the 1960s, he produced a series of small box shaped interactive sculptures called Bólides (fireballs) which had panels and doors which viewers could move and explore. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he made installations called penetrávels (penetrables) which viewers could step into and interact with. The most influential of these was Tropicália (1967) which gave its name to the Tropicalismo movement. He also created works called Parangolés which consisted layers of fabric, plastic and matting intended to be worn like costumes but experienced as mobile sculptures.
Having spent time in London and New York (the latter place where he became a cocaine addict) he died of a stroke, highly-likely linked to his drug consumption (he had had a couple of small strokes previously) in Brazil in 1980.
In 2007, both the Tate Modern gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston staged major exhibitions of Oiticica's
Oiticica's early works, in the mid 1950s, were greatly influenced by European modern art movements, principally Concrete art and De Stijl He was a member of Groupo Frente, founded Ivan Serpa, under whom he had studied painting. His early paintings used a pallete of strong, bright primary and secondary colours and geometric shapes influenced by artists such as Piet Mondrian, Paul Klee and Kazimir Malevich. Oiticica's painting quickly gave way to a much warmer and more subtle pallete of oranges, yellows, reds and browns which he maintained, with some exceptions, for the rest of his life.
In 1959, he established the short-lived Grupo Neoconcreto with the artists Amilcar de Castro, Lygia Clark and Franz Weissmann. This disbanded in 1961.
Colour became a key subject of Oiticica's work and he experimented with paintings and hanging wooden sculptures with subtle (sometimes barely perceptible) differences in colour within or between the sections. The hanging sculptures gradually grew in scale and later works consisted on many hanging sections forming the overall work.
In the 1960s, he produced a series of small box shaped interactive sculptures called Bólides (fireballs) which had panels and doors which viewers could move and explore. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s he made installations called penetrávels (penetrables) which viewers could step into and interact with. The most influential of these was Tropicália (1967) which gave its name to the Tropicalismo movement. He also created works called Parangolés which consisted layers of fabric, plastic and matting intended to be worn like costumes but experienced as mobile sculptures.
Having spent time in London and New York (the latter place where he became a cocaine addict) he died of a stroke, highly-likely linked to his drug consumption (he had had a couple of small strokes previously) in Brazil in 1980.
In 2007, both the Tate Modern gallery in London and the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston staged major exhibitions of Oiticica's
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