More Tropicália

Another article on the art movement Tropicália...

The original exhibition of Hélio Oiticica's Tropicália was in 1967, an installation at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. Some interesting tidbits about Oiticica: he studied samba, was the passista in 1965, known for his Parangolé pieces, where audience is encouraged to put on a cape and become the art by dancing the samba, participating in a parade, etc... the word is slang for 'sudden confusion among peoples.' Also, interestingly, he had a terrible drug habit and died of a stroke at age 43, also studied with Grupo Frente (1954 -1956). Grupo Frente was a leftist circle of abstract artists including Ivan Serpa, Lygia Clark, and Lygia Pape. He later broke away and helped found the Neo-Concrete group with Lygia Clark. His Tropicália work is an important work from his career, and gives the name to the movement we think of when we talk about Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Os Mutantes. The piece features palm trees, narrow pathways, puddles, nooks and crannies with sand and trash... Oiticica referred to his installations in this genre as 'trashiscapes.' The article discusses this recent exhibit which featured scaffolding and presents a view of the piece that was not available to the original audience in 1967. Interesting, we have to wonder what the artist would think of that... I feel that he may be uneasy about the birds eye view, simply for the fact that he intended the piece to be a participatory experience where you would get your shoes wet, literally and figuratively, in the slums of Brazil.

Here is another article from the New York Times about a recent Oiticica exhibit in Houston.