Penetrável Macaléia, 1978

Basel 2017
Penetrável Macaléia

Gomide&Co

Sculpture
mixed media: metal structure, colored metal screens, sand, rocks, plants
220.0 x 220.0 x 220.0 (cm)
86.6 x 86.6 x 86.6 (inch)
Penetrável Macaléia is a work conceived in the 1970s, when Hélio Oiticica was going through a very sensory phase, and when he created his sensorial cages which he called Penetrables. A walk-in paint metal grid structure, filled with sand, rocks, and plants, upon entering it and closing oneself within its gates, one is either imprisoned by the grid, and/or experiences the freedom and pleasure projected by colors and textures. Oiticica’s makeshift structures ensnare one in the complications and contradictions of what is industrially made and tropical nature. Together with Bergamin & Gomide’s selected works from Oiticica’s earlier phase, presented in the Feature sector at Art Basel show in 2017, Penetrável Macaléia at Unlimited provides an opportunity for a deeper understanding of the renegade Brazilian artist’s work.