Escaping
With her Casulo (Cocoon) series of folded metal sculptures – of which this is one example – the Brazilian artist took her first radical escape from the flat plane of the canvas, while retaining much of the geometric abstraction of her earlier paintings.
Architectural
The work demands interaction: to fully appreciate its multifaceted nature, viewers have to move around it and peek inside. In this way it is architectural, possessing both an interior and an exterior.
Interaction
This sculpture marks not just an important moment in Clark’s career but in the development of the neo-concretist movement, a defining school of thought in the Brazilian avant garde during the postwar era. It called for the viewer’s interaction and sensitivity to activate a work.
Emergence
Clark was a major figure in Brazilian art as it emerged from the shadow of European modernism. The exhibition that this work is taken from focuses on her output during the 50s, a key period in that revolution.
Transition
Here we see how Clark came to achieve the kineticism of her later Bicho series. To this angular complexity she added hinges, allowing the viewer to reshape and reimagine her pieces at will.
