The Illustration of Light

Quite Pop in style when looked upon briefly, the work by Antonio Dias is far from being so literal. On the contrary it explores a powerfully symbolic territory within its own geographic frontiers. Furthermore, since 1968, Antonio Dias' oeuvre radically departed from the Nova Figuracao universe and became a trailblazer in the group where strictly conceptual explorations are to be found in the realm of Brazilian art. As such, he remains as the main link between the early radical movements and the younger generations of artists working under the tutelage of both Brazilian and European aesthetic models.

The present piece titled the Illustration of Light confronts the viewer with a set of signs and a play of words that represent a false truth. Radically conceptual, it refers to a whole body of work that the artist executed in the late sixties and early seventies questioning representation and the value of signs.