.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Lygia Clark's interest in constructivism and its artistic developments began in the 50s as a visual solution to the problems of spatial representation on bilateral surfaces brought to the foreground by the international vanguards. In the 50s and 60s she was particularly interested in geometric abstraction, and it was this concern on graphic compositions that led the way towards the bi-dimensional constructions such as superfície Modulada no 6, and later, to the bichos and other three-dimensional, malleable objects. A member of the Grupo Frente, she believed in the power of repetition and the use of form and color to create rhythmical compositions. Furthermore, the Rio group, in opposition to the Sao Paulo Ruptura group, believed in the possibility of creating art that was pragmatic and educational, having a clear social purpose.
It was the construction of a bidimensional space that broke away from illusion and trompe-l'oeil that gave birth to the New American Abstraction of the 60s where uniform areas of color occupy the whole compositional space, creating "environmental paintings" that surround the spectator and determine his artistic experience, such as the works by Mark Rothko and Frank Stella. (1)
Lygia's work, however interested in the environmental qualities of art, distances itself from the artistic investigation of texture, monumentality and material. Her search was inclined towards the annihilation of the support by reducing the color scheme as well as the space between the object and the spectator. Her intent was to create an immaterial object, fully blended with the spectator and his experience of art. Lygia gave special importance during the decade of the 50s-when she executed the superficies moduladas, to the power of virtual versus real images. The perceptual distortions created by straight lines destroy the perfect shape, thus blending into the surrounding space while creating new perceptual borders.
Marchan, S. Del Arte Objetual al Arte de Concepto: Las artes plásticas desde 1960, Madrid, 1974, p.107
It was the construction of a bidimensional space that broke away from illusion and trompe-l'oeil that gave birth to the New American Abstraction of the 60s where uniform areas of color occupy the whole compositional space, creating "environmental paintings" that surround the spectator and determine his artistic experience, such as the works by Mark Rothko and Frank Stella. (1)
Lygia's work, however interested in the environmental qualities of art, distances itself from the artistic investigation of texture, monumentality and material. Her search was inclined towards the annihilation of the support by reducing the color scheme as well as the space between the object and the spectator. Her intent was to create an immaterial object, fully blended with the spectator and his experience of art. Lygia gave special importance during the decade of the 50s-when she executed the superficies moduladas, to the power of virtual versus real images. The perceptual distortions created by straight lines destroy the perfect shape, thus blending into the surrounding space while creating new perceptual borders.
Marchan, S. Del Arte Objetual al Arte de Concepto: Las artes plásticas desde 1960, Madrid, 1974, p.107