Amilcar de Castro, Centro de Arte Héilio Oiticica

Amilcar de Castro

Centro de Arte HĂŠlio Oiticica

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Amilcar de Castro

Exposição de 11 de dezem­bro de 1999 a 26 de março de 2000 Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, Rio de Janeiro

Pre­fei­to da Cida­de do Rio de Janei­ro ­Luiz Pau­lo Fer­nan­dez Con­de Secre­tá­ria Muni­ci­pal de Cul­tu­ra Hele­na Seve­ro Pre­si­den­te do Ins­ti­tu­to Muni­ci­pal de ­Arte e Cul­tu­ra – RioAr­te Odu­val­do de Aze­re­do Bra­ga Dire­to­ra ­Geral do Cen­tro de ­Arte ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ca Van­da Man­gia Kla­bin

CIP – Brasil. Cata­lo­ga­ção na fon­te Sindicato Nacio­nal dos Editores de ­Livro, RJ C35a Cas­tro, Amil­car de, 1920 – Amil­car de Cas­tro. – Rio de Janei­ro : Cen­tro de ­Arte ­Hélio

Oiti­ci­ca : CCBB, 1999.

52p. : il. (37 ilus­tra­ções de ­obras); 23x29,5cm.

Texto em português e inglês.

Catá­lo­go da expo­si­ção rea­li­za­da no Cen­tro de ­Arte ­Hélio

Oiti­ci­ca, Rio de Janei­ro, de 11 de de­zem­bro a 26 de março

de 2000.

Inclui textos de Vanda Mangia Klabin e Ronaldo Brito.

Inclui cronologia. ­ISBN 85-86675-08-3 1. Cas­tro, Amil­car de, 1920 – – Expo­si­ções. 2. ­Escultura

moder­na – Século XX – Bra­sil – Expo­si­ções. I. Klabin,

Vanda Mangia. II. Brito, Ronaldo, 1949 –. III. Cen­tro de ­Arte ­

Hélio Oiti­ci­ca. IV. Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil. V. Títu­lo.

CDD 730.981 CDU 73.036(81)

© Copy­right 1999 dos auto­res. ­Todos os direi­tos reser­va­dos ao Cen­tro de ­Arte ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ca.

Rua ­Luís de ­Camões 68, Cen­tro, 20060-040 Rio de Janei­ro RJ ­tels (+21) 242-1012/242-1213 fax (+21) 232-1401

O Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica tem o or­gu­lho e o pra­zer de apre­sen­tar ao pú­bli­co da cida­de do Rio de Janeiro to­da a vi­ta­li­da­de da ­obra de Amilcar de Castro, mos­tran­do uma se­le­ção de tra­ba­lhos re­cen­tes e al­guns iné­di­tos, rea­li­za­dos es­pe­cial­men­te pa­ra es­ta oca­sião.

Além das te­las de gran­de for­ma­to e das es­cul­tu­ras em aço Cor-Ten, que re­ve­lam, em Amilcar, a maes­tria da ar­te da do­bra e do re­cor­te, a ex­po­si­ção ex­tra­po­la os mu­ros do Centro, se ins­ta­la na pra­ça Tiradentes e, jun­to com ou­tras es­cul­tu­ras de gran­de por­te, ex­pres­sa o ca­rá­ter ur­ba­no-mo­nu­men­tal da ­obra do ar­tis­ta.

A sen­si­bi­li­da­de acu­mu­la­da em uma dé­ca­da de tra­ba­lho em ­prol do de­sen­vol­vi­men­to da ce­na cul­tu­ral ca­rio­ca es­ti­mu­lou o Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil a as­so­ciar-se à Prefeitura da Cidade do Rio de Janeiro pa­ra a rea­li­za­ção des­ta ex­po­si­ção. Juntos, pres­tam uma home­na­gem a um ar­tis­ta cu­ja tra­je­tó­ria ilus­tra exem­plar­men­te a his­tó­ ria da ar­te bra­si­lei­ra na se­gun­da me­ta­de des­te sé­cu­lo e que se pro­je­ta, atra­vés de sua in­can­sá­vel pes­qui­sa de ma­te­riais e de li­mi­tes da for­ma, pa­ra o sé­cu­lo XXI. Helena Severo Secretária Municipal de Cultura do Rio de Janeiro

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Diálogo e par­ce­ria

“A ­obra de ar­te não se li­mi­ta a ocu­par um lu­gar no es­pa­ço ob­je­ti­vo — mas o transcende ao fun­dar ne­le uma sig­ni­fi­ca­ção”, afir­ma­va o Manifesto Neoconcreto pu­bli­ca­ do no Jornal do Brasil de 22 de mar­ço de 1959 e as­si­na­do, en­tre ou­tros, por Amilcar de Castro, Ferreira Gullar, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape e Reinaldo Jardim. O ano de 1959 é mar­ca­do tam­bém pe­la es­tréia efe­ti­va da no­va dia­gra­ma­ção do Jornal do Brasil, rea­ li­za­da por Amilcar de Castro, on­de as man­chas de tex­to pas­sam a dia­lo­gar com os es­pa­ços em bran­co das pá­gi­nas, per­mi­tin­do ­maior res­pi­ra­ção e fa­ci­li­da­de de lei­tu­ra.

O pro­gra­ma­dor vi­sual “fun­da­va uma no­va sig­ni­fi­ca­ção”, den­tro da ló­gi­ca do ma­ni­ festo as­si­na­do por ele mes­mo, Amilcar de Castro, um ar­tis­ta múl­ti­plo — es­cul­tor, de­se­nhis­ta, gra­va­dor, pin­tor — mas sem­pre coe­so a ­seus prin­cí­pios bá­si­cos.

Ao lon­go das qua­tro úl­ti­mas dé­ca­das, a tra­je­tó­ria de seu tra­ba­lho ja­mais so­freu qual­ quer des­vio, man­ten­do-se sua ar­te em per­ma­nen­te equi­lí­brio, em cons­tan­te diá­lo­go com o es­pa­ço ex­ter­no. Conciso, aus­te­ro, en­xu­to, es­se diá­lo­go vem mui­to do que exis­ te de mon­ta­nha e so­li­dão em Amilcar de Castro, de sua par­ce­ria com a mi­nei­ri­da­de.

“Há que ten­tar o diá­lo­go quan­do a so­li­dão é ví­cio”, já di­zia o poe­ta-con­ter­râ­neo Carlos Drummond de Andrade. Mestre do cor­te e da do­bra ao tra­ba­lhar o fer­ro em ­suas escul­tu­ras, Amilcar de Castro faz com que sua ­obra pa­re­ça tam­bém mo­no­lo­gar ao se do­brar so­bre si mes­ma, nu­ma cons­tan­te in­da­ga­ção. E é des­sa ten­são que se instau­ra a be­le­za que nos ins­ti­ga.

Afastado há al­gum tem­po das vi­tri­nes ca­rio­cas de ex­po­si­ções, Amilcar de Castro che­ ga aos 80 ­anos co­mo um mar­co das ar­tes plás­ti­cas do Brasil nes­te fi­nal de sé­cu­lo. É gran­de o nos­so pra­zer — no mo­men­to em que com­ple­ta­mos dez ­anos de ati­va pre­sen­ ça nos ­meios ar­tís­ti­cos do Rio de Janeiro — em po­der com­par­ti­lhar des­ta par­ce­ria com o Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, tra­zen­do a pú­bli­co a pro­du­ção re­cen­te des­te que é pro­va­vel­men­te um de nos­sos maio­res ar­tis­tas vi­vos.

Walter Nunes de Vasconcelos Jr. Diretor do Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

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Apresentação O Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, com mui­to or­gu­lho, vem pres­tar uma jus­ta homenagem ao ex­traor­di­ná­rio ar­tis­ta mi­nei­ro Amilcar de Castro, cu­ja ­obra exer­ce um papel re­co­nhe­ci­da­men­te pri­mor­dial e ex­pres­si­vo na his­tó­ria da es­cul­tu­ra mo­der­na no Brasil. Não se tra­ta de uma re­tros­pec­ti­va, nem do re­su­mo da tra­je­tó­ria do ar­tis­ta, mas da apre­sen­ta­ção de uma sé­rie de tra­ba­lhos iné­di­tos, con­ce­bi­dos pa­ra es­ta mos­tra.

Tendo em vis­ta que as ga­le­rias do Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica po­dem aco­lher ape­ nas ­obras den­tro de cer­tos li­mi­tes de pe­so e ta­ma­nho, um con­jun­to im­por­tan­te de es­cul­tu­ras de gran­de por­te des­ti­na­do a es­pa­ços pú­bli­cos se­rá ins­ta­la­do pró­xi­mo à nos­sa ins­ti­tui­ção, na pra­ça Tiradentes. A es­cul­tu­ra ex­pos­ta na Bienal de São Paulo de 1953 tam­bém se­rá apre­sen­ta­da, em es­ca­la au­men­ta­da, e co­lo­ca­da na rua la­te­ral ao Centro, co­mo par­te do pro­je­to de es­cul­tu­ras ur­ba­nas, ini­cia­ti­va da Secretaria Municipal de Cultura, que se in­te­gra ago­ra ao con­tex­to da mos­tra.

Filho de um im­por­tan­te pro­mo­tor e ­juiz mu­ni­ci­pal, Amilcar de Castro for­mou-se em di­rei­to, mas du­ran­te o pe­río­do des­se cur­so já co­me­ça­va a es­tu­dar de­se­nho e pin­tu­ra com Guignard e es­cul­tu­ra com Franz Weissmann, em Belo Horizonte. O apren­di­za­do com Guignard foi um fa­tor im­por­tan­te pa­ra o pen­sa­men­to do ar­tis­ta: o de­se­nho com o lá­pis du­ro sul­can­do a su­per­fí­cie do pa­pel, de mo­do a não per­mi­tir o uso da bor­ra­cha e as­sim evi­den­ciar a pre­ci­são do ris­co, o le­vou a de­ci­dir-se pe­la es­cul­tu­ra “ao per­ce­ber que as li­nhas po­diam ser tri­di­men­sio­nais”. Sua ati­vi­da­de ar­tís­ti­ca in­ten­si­fi­cou-se na dé­ca­da de 1950, mar­ca­da de iní­cio pe­la in­fluên­cia de Max Bill e de­pois pe­la con­vi­ vên­cia com o gru­po de ar­tis­tas con­cre­tos e tam­bém neo­con­cre­tos. Assinou o Manifesto Neoconcreto, tor­nan­do-se um dos ex­poen­tes des­se mo­vi­men­to, fun­da­men­ta­do nos prin­cí­pios do cons­tru­ti­vis­mo.

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A po­tên­cia poé­ti­ca do seu tra­ba­lho e a so­li­di­fi­ca­ção de uma lin­gua­gem pes­soal ao lon­go de ­mais de cin­qüen­ta ­anos se de­sen­vol­vem atra­vés da ex­pe­ri­men­ta­ção dos ­mais di­ver­sos ma­te­riais e em di­fe­ren­tes téc­ni­cas e di­fe­ren­tes pro­ce­di­men­tos, pas­san­ do pe­la es­cul­tu­ra, de­se­nho, gra­vu­ra e pro­je­tos grá­fi­cos, co­mo a cé­le­bre e ino­va­do­ra re­for­ma grá­fi­ca do Jornal do Brasil. O aço Cor-Ten foi, no en­tan­to, ele­men­to for­te e pre­di­le­to pa­ra a exe­cu­ção da ­maior par­te de ­suas es­cul­tu­ras, sem­pre dia­lo­gan­do com as raí­zes cons­tru­ti­vas e anun­cian­do no­vas pos­si­bi­li­da­des do pen­sa­men­to geo­mé­tri­co e da ar­te co­mo ati­vi­da­de de cons­tru­ção so­cial. A o ­ bra de Amilcar de Castro ado­ta es­ta uni­ver­sa­li­da­de mo­der­na, ma­ni­fes­ta a ­ação hu­ma­na en­vol­vi­da por uma den­si­da­ de fi­lo­só­fi­ca. Na afir­ma­ção do crí­ti­co Mário Pedrosa, “as es­cul­tu­ras de Amilcar de Castro con­vi­dam à me­di­ta­ção”.

Gostaria de ex ­pres­sar vi­va­men­te ­meus agra­de­ci­men­tos ao ar­tis­ta Amilcar de Castro pe­la es­plên­di­da opor­tu­ni­da­de de tra­zer a pú­bli­co es­te con­jun­to re­pre­sen­ta­ti­vo de ­suas ­obras ­mais re­cen­tes rea­l i­z a­do es­pe­cial­men­te pa­r a es­t a ex ­po­si­ção; ao cu­r a­dor da exposi­ção e au­tor da ex­ce­len­te aná­li­se crí­ti­ca da ­obra, Ronaldo Brito, pe­lo de­di­ca­do tra­ba­lho de se­le­ção das ­obras; à efi­cien­te equi­pe de Sula Danowski, res­pon­sá­vel pe­la edi­ção des­te ca­tá­lo­go. Meus es­pe­ciais agra­de­ci­men­tos ao Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil que, rea­f ir­man­do a sua já tra­d i­cio­nal e con­sa­g ra­da ati­v i­da­de de di­f un­d ir e pro­mo­ver a pro­du­ção cul­tu­ral, es­ta­be­le­ce ago­ra uma im­por­tan­te par­ce­ria ins­ti­tu­cio­ nal com o Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica. Muitas pes­soas con­tri­buí­ram de for­ma di­ fe­ren­cia­da pa­ra a or­ga­n i­z a­ção des­t a mos­t ra. Agradeço par­t i­cu­lar­men­te a colaboração de Augusto Ivan de Freitas Pinheiro, Márcio Teixeira, Sílvia Cintra, Thaís Helft, Allen Roscoe da Cunha e Paulo Coelho.

Vanda Mangia Klabin Diretora Geral do Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

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De ferro inquie­t o

Ronaldo Brito

O fa­to, por si só, é sig­ni­fi­ca­ti­vo: uma sé­rie iné­di­ta de es­cul­tu­ras de Amilcar de Castro.

E, de cer­to mo­do, as pri­mei­ras no gê­ne­ro si­te-spe­ci­fic, fei­tas pa­ra as con­di­ções ma­ te­riais do Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, a di­men­são de s­ uas sa­las, o li­mi­te de re­sis­ tên­cia de ­suas la­jes. Ao que acres­ce ou­tra ini­cia­ti­va tam­bém iné­di­ta: a pre­sen­ça con­co­mi­tan­te de um con­jun­to de pe­ças mo­nu­men­tais em ple­na pra­ça Tiradentes, no cen­tro his­tó­ri­co do Rio de Janeiro. Como se tu­do is­so não bas­tas­se, no en­tan­to, es­ ta­mos efe­ti­va­men­te dian­te de um no­vo mo­men­to, um no­vo im­pul­so ex­pe­ri­men­tal no cur­s o de uma sin­g u­l ar lin­g ua­g em cons­t ru­t i­v a que con­t a qua­s e cin­c o dé­c a­d as.

Começar a de­ci­frar e es­cla­re­cer es­te mo­men­to sur­preen­den­te é o de­sa­fio des­te des­ pre­ten­sio­so tex­to crí­ti­co — to­do cui­da­do é pou­co, em com­pen­sa­ção, to­da au­dá­cia tam­bém.

Vamos de iní­cio, em ter­mos di­dá­ti­cos, ao de­se­nho1 — a fun­ção, a ló­gi­ca e a ima­gi­na­ção do li­v re exer­cí­cio de pen­sa­men­to geo­mé­tri­co que “an­te­ce­de” as es­cul­tu­ ras. E pa­ra afir­mar, tal­vez, ape­nas o ób­v io: o ar­tis­ta ope­ra des­de lo­go na pos­se poé­ti­ ca de ­seus va­lo­res plás­ti­cos ma­ni­fes­ta­men­te cor­pó­reos. Trata-se, por­tan­to, de ins­tân­ cia au­tô­no­ma de cria­ção. Não há real­men­te a prio­ri em ­tais es­tu­dos já im­preg­na­dos pe­lo ima­gi­ná­rio do fer­ro oxi­da­do, co­mo que fa­tal pa­ra a sen­si­bi­li­da­de do ar­tis­ta. Quer di­zer: sua ins­pi­ra­ção geo­mé­tri­ca de saí­da pre­ci­sa do pla­no em bran­co do pa­pel, a dis­ po­ni­bi­li­da­de ab­so­lu­ta de um mun­do sem en­tra­ves. Nesse trân­si­to in­ces­san­te en­tre

vir­tua­li­da­de ima­gi­na­ti­va e es­tri­ta de­ter­mi­na­ção ma­te­rial, o pro­ces­so da es­cul­tu­ra de Amilcar de Castro re­faz e des­faz, à sua ma­nei­ra, a clás­si­ca opo­si­ção me­ta­fí­si­ca en­tre sen­sí­vel e in­te­li­gí­vel.

Ainda as­sim, pe­se sua no­tó­ria di­fe­ren­ça ir­re­du­tí­vel à or­to­do­x ia cons­tru­ti­va,

seu as­pec­to com­pa­ra­ti­va­men­te um tan­to ar­cai­co e já um tan­to “des­cons­tru­ti­vo”, na boa tra­di­ção pla­tô­ni­ca do ra­cio­na­lis­mo oci­den­tal, Amilcar de Castro até ­aqui par­tia

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de fi­gu­ras geo­mé­tri­cas re­gu­la­res. Eram o qua­dra­do, o triân­gu­lo e o cír­cu­lo que ele cor­ta­va e/ou do­bra­va pa­ra as­sim des­ve­lar a sua pa­ra­do­xal aber­tu­ra. E, ao ma­te­ria­li­zálas em pla­cas de fer­ro, ­abri-las con­tra a re­sis­tên­cia da ma­té­ria. Bem co­mo, si­mul­tâ­nea e ca­rac­te­ris­ti­ca­men­te ilu­mi­ná-las atra­vés da pró­pria opa­ci­da­de do óxi­do de fer­ro, o que vi­nha ­lhes con­fe­rir cer­ta pul­sa­ção de coi­sa vi­va no tem­po, em uma pa­la­vra, di­ men­são exis­ten­cial.

De pas­sa­gem, te­mos que nos de­ter um ins­tan­te so­bre as fa­mo­sas do­bras de

Amilcar de Castro, sig­no dis­tin­ti­vo de sua ori­gi­nal ló­gi­ca cons­tru­ti­va. Se não me en­ ga­no, ­tais do­bras têm sen­ti­do du­plo — pa­gam uma dí­v i­da do tra­ba­lho com a tra­di­ção ao mes­mo tem­po em que o li­be­ram pa­ra le­van­tar uma per­gun­ta agu­da so­bre o fu­tu­ro.

Numa cer­ta me­di­da, por sua con­di­ção mes­ma de do­bras, le­vam a es­cul­tu­ra a vol­tar-se so­bre si mes­ma e as­sim con­fi­gu­rar uni­da­de; não dei­xam ­pois de as­si­na­lar um vín­cu­lo com a no­ção mor­fo­ló­gi­ca de con­tor­no. Numa es­cul­tu­ra que tem iní­cio por uma drás­ ti­ca re­du­ção abs­tra­ta, pre­ten­den­do ci­f rar-se me­dian­te es­tri­ta ar­ti­cu­la­ção de pla­nos geo­mé­tri­cos, a do­bra, já in­si­nua­do­ra de vo­lu­me, é o que lhe ga­ran­te in­te­r io­r i­da­de e, por ex­ten­são, re­f le­x i­v i­da­de.

Visando sol­tar de vez es­sa mes­ma ar­ti­cu­la­ção de pla­nos, as do­bra­di­ças de

Lygia Clark subs­ti­tuíam se­me­lhan­te con­tor­ção da ma­té­r ia, que lhe pa­re­ce­r ia ilu­sio­ nis­ta, ín­di­ce de uma in­te­r io­r i­da­de sus­pei­ta, pre­sa ao dua­lis­mo tra­di­cio­nal su­jei­to/ ob­je­to. No ca­so dos Bichos, as do­bra­di­ças fun­cio­nam a con­ten­to mas, ob­v ia­men­te, ­eram so­lu­ções pro­v i­só­rias — não só guar­dam al­go de me­câ­ni­co co­mo se mos­tram in­ viá­veis pa­ra sus­ten­tar um au­men­to sig­ni­fi­ca­ti­vo de es­ca­la. Ao ­olhar con­tem­po­râ­neo, os Bichos con­ti­nuam a se­du­zir co­mo es­pé­cies de Bustos in­quie­tos, pal­pi­tan­tes. Todo o per­cur­so ul­te­rior de Lygia Clark re­su­me ­aliás um es­for­ço cu­rio­so: a bus­ca da hi­per­ sen­si­bi­li­za­ção atra­vés da pro­gres­si­va des­ma­te­r ia­li­za­ção. Movida so­bre­tu­do por uma des­con­fian­ça bá­si­ca, fe­no­me­no­ló­gi­ca, acer­ca da me­ta­fí­si­ca da pre­sen­ça. Ora, é jus­ta­ men­te es­sa pre­sen­ça “qua­dra­da” que Amilcar sem­pre pre­ten­deu re­ver­ter, num es­pí­ri­ to não me­nos fe­no­me­no­ló­gi­co, por ­meio da re­ve­la­ção ines­pe­ra­da mas con­clu­si­va de sua aber­t u­r a in­t rín­se­ca. E sem ab­d i­car do des­t i­no cor ­pó­reo da es­cul­t u­r a. Se há

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escultura, 1978 chapa de ferro, 50 x 50cm

di­ver­gên­cia en­tre o es­cul­tor mi­nei­ro e, di­ga­mos, Max Bill, sur­ge exa­ta­men­te aí: ­suas pe­ças ja­mais evo­luem na at­mos­fe­ra vir­tual da men­ta­li­za­ção geo­mé­tri­ca — equa­ções a se­rem por nós re­sol­v i­das nes­se es­pa­ço i­deal — mas ra­di­cam no so­lo do mun­do. E tra­zen­do con­si­go, gra­ças ao uso “sel­va­gem” do aço Cor-Ten oxi­da­do, a me­mó­r ia da na­tu­re­za, jus­to aque­la que o ano­ni­ma­to dos ma­te­r iais con­cre­tis­tas sublimava. Em resu­mo, de mo­do ati­vo, re­no­va­dor, as do­bras re­po­ten­cia­li­zam a me­mó­r ia mi­le­nar da con­ti­nui­da­de mor­fo­ló­gi­ca.

Por ou­tro la­do, o tem­po se en­car­re­gou de pro­var, ­tais do­bras cons­ti­tuem

uma ­idéia es­té­ti­ca in­com­pa­ra­vel­men­te ­mais for­te, de al­can­ce his­tó­ri­co mui­to ­maior do que me­ras do­bra­di­ças. Na fí­si­ca do cam­po es­té­ti­co, no mun­do-da-vi­da on­de o tra­ba­lho de ar­te ­atua e pro­duz ­mudanças, ope­ram co­mo au­tên­ti­cos mo­bi­li­za­do­res to­po­ló­gi­cos. No do­mí­nio do ima­gi­ná­rio for­mal — em ge­ral su­bes­ti­ma­do mas in­ cons­cien­te­men­te qua­se to­do-po­de­ro­so, ­pois con­for­ma o nos­so pen­sa­men­to — via­ bi­li­zam ou­tro ne­xo geo­mé­tri­co, con­soan­te os em­ba­tes in­só­li­tos e os en­con­tros ma­ leá­veis pró­prios a uma in­te­ra­ção con­tem­po­râ­nea en­tre eu e mun­do. Ao rom­per a su­pos­ta idea­li­da­de do en­te geo­mé­tri­co, rein­tro­du­zem o ­élan vi­tal de sua ori­gem e re­to­mam o pro­ble­ma pe­la ­raiz: de ime­dia­to o ma­te­ria­li­zam em mun­do. Cumprem as­sim a pro­mes­sa eman­ci­pa­tó­ria mo­der­na: fa­cul­tam nos­so per­cur­so in­cer­to e vi­ bran­te so­bre a su­per­fí­cie do ­real. Para ­além do pro­pa­la­do sig­no do bar­ro­co, a do­ bra tor­na-se um acha­do plás­ti­co que mis­tu­ra o da­do im­pon­de­rá­vel ao cál­cu­lo exa­ to da es­cul­tu­ra e re­põe o di­le­ma sen­sí­vel, em­pí­ri­co, do fa­zer, is­to é, do fa­zer hu­ mana a vi­da.

A “pe­ga­da” tí­pi­ca do tra­ba­lho de Amilcar de Castro, o seu tra­vo ru­de con­

traí­do ao con­ta­to da vi­da, lhe im­pri­me um pe­so mar­ca­da­men­te es­cul­tó­ri­co, a re­va­ lo­ri­zar o sen­so de per­ma­nên­cia em ­meio ao pro­ces­sa­men­to vo­lá­til do mun­do ­atual.

O seu cons­tru­ti­vis­mo ins­truí­do nun­ca re­cuou um pal­mo se­quer fren­te às pre­mis­sas de uma ar­te au­tô­no­ma, não-mi­mé­ti­ca, vol­ta­da de­ci­di­da­men­te pa­ra o pro­je­to de cons­ maquete, 1984 chapa de ferro

tru­ção do ­real. Mas o faz sob o ca­rá­ter, sem­pre um pou­co in­tem­pes­ti­vo, de lí­ri­ca sin­gu­lar, ade­rin­do a um con­cei­to en­fá­ti­co de ar­te aves­so a pro­gra­mas ideo­ló­gi­cos,

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se­jam ­eles edi­fi­can­tes ou trans­gres­si­vos. Sua en­tre­ga in­con­di­cio­nal à vo­raz ener­gia trans­for­ma­do­ra da lin­gua­gem pla­nar mo­der­na lo­go se fi­xa no enig­ma eter­no de seu mo­men­to ini­cial — o ím­pe­to do ato es­tru­tu­ral.

Próxima a um exem­plar de ou­tra ­obra de gran­de por­te que sem­pre lhe cor­

reu pa­ra­le­la, a de Franz Weissmann, a ­fluir vir­tuo­sa­men­te en­tre pos­si­bi­li­da­des pla­ na­res, uma es­cul­tu­ra de Amilcar de Castro é um fa­to ­mais só­li­do, ele­men­tar, a re­por o mis­té­rio da coe­são em ­meio à aber­tu­ra, al­go que pa­re­ce exi­gir a re­pe­ti­ção da mes­ ma e gra­ve per­gun­ta. Não sei se dra­má­ti­co é o ad­je­ti­vo ade­qua­do, pro­va­vel­men­te não — o cer­to é que há uma den­si­da­de emo­cio­nal, uma pon­de­ra­ção éti­ca, nes­sa con­cen­ tra­ção so­bre o even­to da es­cul­tu­ra, co­mo se pos­si­bi­li­da­des en­quan­to ­tais fos­sem se­ cun­dá­rias se­não frí­vo­las.

Em re­tros­pec­to, se­ria fá­cil se­guir a progressiva re­la­ti­vi­za­ção da uni­da­de

­ideal dos só­li­dos geo­mé­tri­cos em­preen­di­da por es­se ex­pe­rien­te e de­sa­bu­sa­do geô­me­ tra. Desde a dé­ca­da de 1980, ele já pro­ce­dia à li­be­ra­ção de um ou m ­ ais ele­men­tos do blo­co da es­cul­tu­ra, in­cor­po­ran­do as­sim o va­zio e am­plian­do a ­área de atua­ção da pe­ça. Sintomaticamente, a ma­ni­pu­la­ção even­tual dos ele­men­tos sol­tos, sua dis­po­ni­ bi­li­da­de lú­di­ca, vi­nha con­tra­ba­lan­ça­da pe­lo seu pró­prio pe­so e, ain­da, pe­la “de­mo­ra” que a as­si­mi­la­ção vi­sual de ca­da no­va si­tua­ção de­man­da­va. Tratava-se me­nos de in­ci­tar a par­ti­ci­pa­ção do es­pec­ta­dor do que en­vol­vê-lo, cor­po­rea­men­te, no di­le­ma es­té­ti­co dos li­mi­tes en­tre coe­são e dis­per­são. Tal pro­ces­so vai em cres­cen­do até che­ gar ao ápi­ce nu­ma sé­rie de pe­que­nas es­cul­tu­ras, par­ti­cu­lar­men­te pe­sa­das, que se re­su­mem ao con­ta­to em aber­to en­tre só­li­dos geo­mé­tri­cos. Inexistem aí vín­cu­los mor­ fo­ló­gi­cos: tu­do ocor­re pe­la mon­ta­gem de ele­men­tos dis­cre­tos. Desde que as vi pe­la pri­mei­ra vez, dez ­anos ­atrás, te­nho a con­vic­ção de que es­sas es­cul­tu­ras cons­tam en­tre as me­lho­res que um ar­tis­ta des­te ­país ja­mais pro­du­ziu. Apelidei o con­cei­to plás­ti­co de ­tais ­obras, com per­doá­vel ir­re­ve­rên­cia, da­daís­mo mi­nei­ro. Praticando uma for­ma­li­za­ção aber­ta, pró­xi­ma à ló­gi­ca do alea­tó­rio da­daís­ta, ­elas se mos­tram, en­tre­tan­to, coi­sas len­tas, “ma­tu­ta­das”, co­mo que des­ti­la­das em cál­cu­los exa­tos a coor­de­nar ­suas va­riá­veis cons­te­la­ções.

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escultura, 1983 ferro (chapa 3”), 30 x 30cm

Os ­anos to­dos de acom­pa­nha­men­to des­sa aven­tu­ra se­ve­ra, em­pe­nha­da em en­car­nar a es­té­ti­ca pla­nar cons­tru­ti­va e as­sim lhe dar es­pes­su­ra fi­lo­só­fi­ca exis­ten­ cial, não ame­ni­za­ram, po­rém, mi­nha per­ple­xi­da­de dian­te das pe­ças re­cen­tes de Amilcar de Castro. E não por­que não pa­re­çam ­suas; pe­se to­do o no­vo, per­ma­ne­cem

in­con­fun­dí­veis, daí a di­fi­cul­da­de. Em par­te, pe­la sur­pre­sa da ho­ri­zon­ta­li­da­de e da le­ve­za acen­tua­das. Mas so­bre­tu­do por­que sen­te-se de pron­to que es­sas pe­ças jus­tas, com al­to ­grau de coe­são for­mal, são en­fim per­cur­sos, en­vol­vem ­mais de um lan­ce na con­se­cu­ção de seu úni­co ges­to es­tru­tu­ral, im­pli­cam vá­rias ins­tân­cias na so­lu­ção de sua uni­da­de in­dis­cu­tí­vel. Desconheço, pen­sei lo­go co­mi­go, exem­plos me­lho­res do

escultura, 1989 ferro (chapas de 3” a 8”), dimensões variáveis

que Husserl no­meou fu­são de ho­ri­zon­tes.

Quando pas­sa­mos a con­ver­sar jun­to à pran­che­ta, de­bru­ça­dos so­bre os es­ tu­dos, a “ex­pli­ca­ção” do ar­tis­ta foi ple­na­men­te con­vin­cen­te. Tanto que au­men­tou mi­nha per­ple­xi­da­de. A fluên­cia e a tran­qüi­li­da­de com que o ve­te­ra­no Amilcar de Castro ex­tra­va­sa li­te­ral­men­te as fi­gu­ras geo­mé­tri­cas re­gu­la­res pa­ra in­ves­ti­gar in­fi­ni­ tas re­la­ções en­tre ­elas são, pa­ra di­zer o mí­ni­mo, des­con­cer­tan­tes.

No pla­no vir­tual do pa­pel, ele dis­põe a dis­tân­cias va­riá­veis e em di­fe­ren­tes

al­tu­ras, di­ga­mos, um cír­cu­lo e um qua­dra­do. E sai a pu­xar, do diâ­me­tro do cír­cu­lo até a á­ rea do qua­dra­do, e vi­ce-ver­sa, inú­me­ras li­nhas de con­ta­to. Entre as múl­ti­plas “fi­gu­ras” que sur­gem nes­se en­tre­cru­za­men­to, a vi­são do ar­tis­ta é ir­re­sis­ti­vel­men­te atraí­da por es­ta ou por aque­la. Resulta uma es­cul­tu­ra que, exa­ge­ran­do um pou­co, in­ven­ta uma no­va fi­gu­ra geo­mé­tri­ca clás­si­ca. De to­do mo­do, rea­li­za a fa­ça­nha de fi­gu­rar de­ter­mi­na­da con­jun­ção em aber­to en­tre qua­dra­do e cír­cu­lo. Seria ilu­são re­ tros­pec­ti­va ou aca­ba­mos de fa­to por en­xer­gar o ras­tro, ou o ha­lo, do cír­cu­lo e do qua­dra­do na for­ma in­de­fi­ní­vel da es­cul­tu­ra? A tor­ção ino­pi­na­da que jun­ta ­ações con­trá­rias não dá sos­se­go ao ­olhar. E o es­tra­nho en­ge­nho de um de­se­nho por as­sim di­zer em sus­pen­so re­per­cu­te nes­sas es­cul­tu­ras que, me­nos do que ­sair do ­chão, pa­ re­cem ne­le pou­sar. O que em na­da des­men­te, ape­nas in­ver­te, sua ha­bi­tual con­cre­ tu­de. Em su­ma, um per­fei­to afo­ris­mo pré-so­crá­ti­co: ­dois mo­men­tos dís­pa­res for­ mam uni­da­de ín­te­gra.

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E men­cio­no ­dois mo­men­tos so­men­te em fun­ção da do­bra, a cur­va que as­

se­gu­ra a doi­da con­ti­nui­da­de en­tre seg­men­tos de­si­guais. Claro, é im­pos­sí­vel de­com­ por a per­cep­ção es­té­ti­ca des­sa in­tei­re­za. Ensaiamos fa­zê-lo, a pos­te­rio­ri, com o in­tui­ to crí­ti­co, tal­vez re­dun­dan­te, tal­vez ex­tra­va­gan­te, de com­preen­der por apro­xi­ma­ção o mis­té­rio de sua in­te­gri­da­de. Todavia, mes­mo ado­tan­do uma vi­são fron­tal, a si­tua­ ção se apre­sen­ta in­trin­ca­da. Um dos seg­men­tos per­faz a se­guin­te ma­no­bra: pa­ra bai­xo e pa­ra trás, li­gei­ra­men­te pa­ra o la­do, e ab­sur­da­men­te “pros­se­gue” em ou­tro seg­men­to de for­ça as­cen­sio­nal, em sen­ti­do di­ver­so e em ma­té­ria cres­cen­te, tam­bém li­gei­ra­men­te des­lo­ca­do. A di­nâ­mi­ca do mo­men­to ini­cial, ao q ­ ual nos re­fe­ri­mos, vê-se ­pois rein­ter­pre­ta­da em ter­mos com­ple­xos. Esse pri­mei­ro mo­men­to não tem na­da de sim­ples, re­ve­la-se já uma ar­ti­cu­la­ção, nú­cleo es­tru­tu­ral pro­ble­má­ti­co a en­vol­ver o jo­go en­tre inér­cia e ím­pe­to, dis­tân­cia e orien­ta­ção.

Uma vez que não vi­ve­mos m ­ ais a Utopia do Plano, vi­ve­mos, is­to sim, o de­

sen­can­to e a me­lan­co­lia do fim das uto­pias, o sen­ti­men­to de opres­são pe­los su­ces­si­ vos em­pas­te­la­men­tos do pla­no, a geo­me­tria tran­si­ti­va de Amilcar de Castro não dei­xa de nos rea­ni­mar gra­ças à sua elás­ti­ca po­si­ti­vi­da­de cons­tru­ti­va. A ma­nei­ra in­si­ nuan­te co­mo ­suas es­cul­tu­ras fran­ca­men­te ho­ri­zon­tais se es­ten­dem no mun­do, o acom­pa­nham e o atra­ves­sam, rea­bi­li­ta a ver­da­de ma­leá­vel da geo­me­tria — o seu di­na­mis­mo vo­lú­vel. Evidentemente, pa­ra Amilcar de Castro, a geo­me­tria não re­pre­ sen­ta “a cri­se mo­ral do nos­so tem­po”, na ad­mi­rá­vel sen­ten­ça de Barnett Newman, por­que ele nun­ca a re­su­miu à ló­gi­ca fun­cio­na­lis­ta. Agora, con­tu­do, vai adian­te, sa­ co­de os úl­ti­mos ves­tí­gios de or­to­do­xia da an­ti­ga dis­ci­pli­na e, com to­do ri­gor, geo­me­ tri­za qua­se co­mo ­quem res­pi­ra.

Refiro-me na­tu­ral­men­te à sua ati­vi­da­de na pran­che­ta e não às ­obras so­bre te­la, ma­dei­ra ou pa­pel que, com mui­to acer­to, o ar­tis­ta cha­ma de­se­nhos, pa­ra que não se pro­cu­re ne­las qua­li­da­des pro­pria­ men­te pic­tó­ri­cas. Alguns exem­pla­res iné­di­tos des­ses ex­traor­di­ná­rios de­se­nhos es­tão pre­sen­tes, em con­tra­pon­to às es­cul­tu­ras, na ­atual ex­po­si­ção no Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica.

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A pescaria

Entre o sen­tir e a pa­la­vra há um tem­po ru­mi­nan­te.

Tempo de si­lên­cio.

Poesia é si­lên­cio en­can­ta­do co­mo­vi­do em pa­la­vra.

Verruma. Desvela. Estampa.

A li­nha não exis­te.

Mas, quan­do fei­ta pe­la mão do ho­mem é de­se­nho.

Obedece co­mo um rio cons­pi­ran­do com as mar­gens. É pen­sa­men­to pen­san­do.

E pen­sa e ris­ca e di­vi­de e des­ve­la jus­ti­ça en­tre­meio en­tre­mean­do es­pa­ços opos­tos: ma­pa de seu des­ti­no.

Procuro sem­pre uma lin­gua­gem sim­ples mas, só en­con­tro le­tras es­par­sas — fós­seis de mim.

Até pa­re­ce que o ho­mem, mes­mo per­se­ve­ran­do no sen­sí­vel, é uma ex­pe­riên­cia es­que­ci­da.

Entretanto, às ve­zes, rá­pi­do co­mo um pei­xe na is­ca um re­lâm­pa­go es­tam­pa cla­ro a for­ma pron­ta.

De gra­ça à co­lhei­ta e à ori­gem do con­ví­vio.

E di­zem que is­so é co­mum na pes­ca­ria.

Amilcar de Castro, 28 de ­maio de 1986

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Cronologia

Christina Bach

Em 8 de j­ unho de 1920 nas­ce o artis­ta Amil­car Augus­to Perei­ra de Cas­tro, em Parai­só­po­lis, ­Minas ­Gerais. ­Após peque­nas esta­das em diver­sas cida­de­zi­nhas mi­nei­ras, a famí­lia do ­então ­juiz, ­depois desem­bar­ga­dor Amil­car Augus­to de Cas­tro e de d. M ­ aria Naza­reth Perei­ra de Cas­ tro, ­pais do artis­ta, esta­be­le­ce resi­dên­cia, em 1934, na cida­de de ­Belo Hori­zon­te.

Aos 21 ­anos, Amil­car de Cas­tro ingres­sa na Facul­da­de de Direi­to da Uni­ver­si­da­de Fede­ral de ­Minas ­Gerais, for­man­do-se em 1945. Des­de ­então, o artis­ta pas­sou a ocu­par expres­si­vos car­gos públi­cos. Con­tu­do, des­de o ano ante­rior ao seu bacha­re­la­do, ini­cia ­seus estu­dos com Alber­to da Vei­ga Guig­nard (dese­nho e pin­tu­ra) e com ­Franz Weiss­mann (escul­tu­ra figu­ra­ti­va). Acom­pa­nha­rá as ­aulas dos mes­tres até o f­ inal da déca­da mas, já no ano de 1945, é sele­cio­na­do ­para a ­seção moder­na do 51o ­Salão Nacio­nal de ­Belas ­Artes e, no 52o ­Salão Nacio­nal de B ­ elas ­Artes de 1947, leva a meda­lha de bron­ze da cate­go­ria por ­dois dese­nhos da cida­de de ­Ouro Pre­to.

No ano de 1949, com­pa­re­ce, no Rio de Janei­ro, à con­ fe­rên­cia do escul­tor suí­ço Max ­Bill ­sobre sua ­obra ­mais famo­sa, Uni­da­de tri­par­ti­da, expos­ta no ano ante­rior no ­M useu de ­A rte de São Pau­lo. Em pou­c as pala­v ras, ­pode-se afir­mar que foi o estu­do do dese­nho o que apro­ xi­mou o artis­ta da escul­tu­ra abs­tra­ta, ape­sar de sua for­ ma­ção com Weiss­mann. Amil­car ain­da ­faria par­te em ­ elas ­Artes com as 1950 do 55o ­Salão Nacio­nal de B obras Más­ca­ra de Ces­chiat­ti e Nu. Déca­da de 1950 Em 1951, Amil­c ar de Cas­t ro rece­b e a meda­lha de bron­z e em escul­t u­r a no III ­S alão Baia­n o de ­B elas

­ rtes, Sal­va­dor. No mes­mo ano inte­gra a divi­são mo­ A der­na do 56o ­Salão Nacio­nal de ­Belas ­Artes com uma escul­tu­ra e d ­ ois dese­nhos. Em 1952, o artis­ta c­ asa-se com d. Dur­cí­lia Cal­dei­ra de Cas­tro e ­logo em segui­da trans­fe­re-se ­para o Rio de Janei­ro, sem­pre exer­cen­do car­gos públi­cos. Em 1953 nas­ce o seu f­ ilho Rodri­go e, no ano seguin­te, a f­ ilha Ana ­Maria. Tam­bém em 1953 o artis­ta ini­cia as par­ti­ci­pa­ções nas bie­nais: apre­sen­ta, na II Bie­nal Inter­na­cio­nal de São Pau­lo, sua pri­mei­ra ­obra cons­tru­ti­va rea­li­za­da sob a influên­cia, ­en­tão bas­ tan­te em ­voga no Bra­sil, de Max ­Bill. ­Dois ­anos ­depois, Amil­car rece­be o Pri­mei­ro Prê­mio de escul­tu­ra do ­Salão Nacio­nal de ­Arte Moder­na da ­Bahia; ini­cia o con­ta­to com os con­cre­tis­tas de São Pau­lo e, ­logo a ­seguir, com a con­tra­par­ti­da neo­concreta dos cario­cas. Con­vi­ven­do com artis­tas e teó­ri­cos do por­­te de ­Mário Pedro­sa, Fer­rei­ra Gul­lar, ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ ca, ­Lygia ­Clark e ­Franz Weiss­mann, e par­ti­ci­pan­do dos deba­tes, Amil­car assi­na, ­enfim, o Mani­fes­to Neo­con­ cre­to em mar­ço de 1959, toman­do uma deci­si­va posi­ ção – par­ti­cu­lar­men­te em f­ace da a­ rte con­cre­ta leva­da a um peri­go­sa exa­cer­ba­ção racio­na­lis­ta, ­como r­ eza o docu­men­to. ­Suas ­obras cons­ta­rão das prin­ci­pais expo­si­ções dos ­dois gru­pos até o ­final da déca­da: I Expo­si­ção Nacio­ nal de ­Arte Con­cre­ta (1956-1957, ­Museu de ­Arte de São Pau­lo/­MASP e Minis­té­rio da Edu­ca­ção/MEC, Rio de Janei­ro), Expo­si­ção de ­Arte Neo­con­cre­ta (1959, ­Museu de ­Arte Moder­na, Rio de Janei­ro, MAM/RJ e Bel­­ve­de­re da Sé, Sal­va­dor) e II Expo­si­ção de ­Arte Neo­ ­con­cre­ta (1960, MEC/RJ); ­assim ­como das repre­sen­ta­ ções nacio­nais das IV e V edi­ções da Bie­nal Inter­na­ cio­nal de São Pau­lo (1957 e 1959, res­pec­ti­va­men­te).

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Even­to de extre­ma rele­vân­cia ­para o con­ta­to dos artis­ tas com a pro­du­ção inter­na­cio­nal, a bie­nal de 1957 per­ mi­tiu a Amil­car con­vi­ver com as o ­ bras do escul­tor bas­ co Jor­ge Otei­za que vie­ram a ter gran­de impac­to em sua for­ma­ção.

De 1957 a 1959, o artis­ta coman­da a céle­bre refor­mu­ la­ção ­visual do Jor­nal do Bra­sil e, em 1958, as recon­fi­ gu­ra­ções grá­fi­cas das revis­tas A Cigar­ra e O Cru­zei­ro, con­fir­man­do sua voca­ção tam­bém ­para as ­artes grá­fi­ cas. Fechan­do a déca­da, em 1960, Amil­car de Cas­tro ­além de g­ anhar o Pri­mei­ro Prê­mio de escul­tu­ra no XV ­Salão Muni­ci­pal de ­Belas ­Artes de ­Belo Hori­zon­te, con­segue a meda­lha de pra­ta em escul­tu­ra no IX S ­ alão Nacio­nal de ­Arte Moder­na (1960, MAM/RJ). Final­men­ te, no mes­mo ano, ao l­ado de con­cre­tos e neo­con­cre­ tos, ­c omo ­Willys de Cas­t ro, Aluí­s io Car­v ão, ­Franz Weiss­­mann, ­Lygia ­Clark, ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ca, den­tre ­outros, inte­gra a impor­tan­te expo­si­ção “Kon­kre­te ­Kunst”, orga­ ni­za­da por Max B ­ ill na ­Helm ­Haus, Zuri­que.

Déca­da de 1960 Ao lon­go des­ta déca­da guar­da­mos os regis­tros da par­ ti­ci­pa­ção do artis­ta na VII Bie­nal Inter­na­cio­nal de São Pau­lo (1963), e em sucessivas edi­ções do ­Salão Nacio­ nal de ­A rte Moder­n a (X/1961, XI/1962, X ­ III/1964, XV/1966 e XVI/1967, MAM/RJ), ­cedo obten­do isen­ção de ­júri. Ain­da ano­ta­mos o rece­bi­men­to do Pri­mei­ro Prê­mio no ­Salão de ­Arte Moder­na de M ­ inas G ­ erais em 1962.

re­for­mu­lou os jor­nais cario­cas Cor­reio da M ­ anhã (1965) e Últi­ma ­Hora (1967), os minei­ros Esta­do de ­Minas e ­Minas ­Gerais (1967) e ain­da o Jor­nal da Tar­de de ­Ma­­‑­ naus e A Pro­vín­cia do ­Pará (1968). Con­ce­beu tam­bém o pla­ne­ja­men­to da revis­ta Man­che­te e de diver­sos ­livros ­para a Edi­to­ra ­Vozes (1966).

Em 1966, o artis­ta rea­li­za a ceno­gra­fia ­para a Esco­la de Sam­ba Man­guei­ra, auxi­lia­do, den­tre ­outros, por ­Hé­lio Oiti­ci­ca. No mes­mo ano, s­ uas o ­ bras ­seguem em uma cole­ti­va orga­ni­za­da ­para ­o Museu de ­Arte Moder­na de Bue­nos ­Aires: “Artis­tas bra­si­lei­ros con­tem­po­râ­neos”.

No ano de 1967 Amil­car de Cas­tro ­ganha o Prê­mio Via­g em ao Exte­r ior do XVI S ­ alão Nacio­n al de ­A rte Moder­na (MAM/RJ) que no ano seguin­te se soma­rá aos recur­s os for­n e­c i­d os por uma Bol­s a da ­J ohn ­S imon Gug­ge­nheim Foun­da­tion, indi­ca­da ­pelo pró­prio dire­ tor ­Henry Geld­zah­ler por oca­sião de sua apre­sen­ta­ção na Bie­nal de 1963. O artis­ta par­te com a famí­lia ­para os Esta­dos Uni­dos em mea­dos de 1968, acres­ci­da ago­ ra de seu ter­cei­ro ­filho – P ­ edro –, nas­ci­do em 1960.

Per­ma­ne­ce pou­co tem­po em ­Nova ­York e ­logo se ­fixa em Eli­za­beth, ­Nova Jer­sey. Amil­car encer­ra a déca­da com ­duas pro­vei­to­sas expo­si­ções: sua pri­mei­ra indi­vi­ dual, em 1969, na Korn­blee Gal­lery, ­onde apre­sen­ta uma s­ érie de tra­ba­lhos a par­tir de ­suas expe­riên­cias com cha­pas de aço ino­xi­dá­vel e uma ­outra em 1970, tam­bém indi­vi­dual, no Con­vent of ­Jesus’ ­Sacred ­Heart, ­ambas na cida­de de ­Nova ­York.

par­t i­c i­p ar, ain­d a nos E.U.A. de uma cole­t i­v a que o reúne a outros três artis­tas lati­no-ame­ri­ca­nos no Bra­ zi­l ian Ins­t i­t u­t e of New ­York Uni­v er­s ity, em 1971 – Wal­do ­Balart, Ale­jan­dro Puen­tes e ­Rubens Gerch­man.

Retor­nan­do ao Bra­sil, deci­de-se por resi­dir em B ­ elo Hori­zon­te e, a par­tir de e­ ntão, dedi­ca-se com afin­co ao magis­té­rio: de 1973 a 1977 tor­na-se pro­fes­sor de escul­ tu­ra da Fun­da­ção de ­Arte de ­Ouro Pre­to e da Fun­da­ção Esco­la Guig­nard, da q ­ ual foi dire­tor por qua­tro a­ nos (1974-1977). No entanto, de 1977 até 1990, res­trin­gi­ rá ­suas ati­vi­da­des aca­dê­mi­cas ape­nas à Esco­la de ­Belas ­Artes da Uni­ver­si­da­de Fede­ral de ­Minas ­Gerais. Em mea­dos da déca­da, reto­ma o dese­nho, aban­do­na­do des­de 1952.

Den­tre as mos­tras ­mais sig­ni­fi­ca­ti­vas do decê­nio, ­além do X ­Salão de ­Arte Con­tem­po­râ­nea de Cam­pi­nas (SP, 1975) e do IV ­Salão Glo­bal de Inver­no de ­Belo Hori­ zon­te em 1976, cha­ma-nos espe­cial aten­ção a cole­ti­va “Pro­je­to cons­tru­ti­vo bra­si­lei­ro na ­arte: 1950 – 1962” (1977, Pina­co­te­ca do Esta­do, São Pau­lo e MAM/RJ), na ­qual assi­na tam­bém o pro­je­to grá­fi­co do catá­lo­go; ano­ta­mos ain­da, um ano ­depois, o seu ­nome inte­gran­ do a fatí­di­ca “­Arte ago­ra III: Amé­ri­ca Lati­na – geo­me­ tria sen­sí­vel”, no ­Museu de ­Arte Moder­na, Rio de Ja­nei­ ­ro. Com a par­ti­ci­pa­ção de 120 artis­tas bra­si­lei­ros e uma ­sala espe­cial inteiramente ­dedi­ca­da ao uru­guaio Tor­resGar­cía, sob a cura­do­ria de Rober­to Pon­tual, a mos­tra ­teve a ­data de seu encer­ra­men­to abre­via­da ­pelas ines­ que­cí­veis cha­mas que con­su­mi­ram o pré­dio do ­museu e gran­de par­te da expo­si­ção, bem ­como do acer­vo.

Déca­da de 1970 No cur­so des­ses ­anos, Amil­car mos­trou nova­men­te gran­de pro­du­ção na ­área das ­artes grá­fi­cas: pla­ne­jou a 1a edi­ção da Enci­clo­pé­dia Bra­si­lei­ra BAR­SA (1962),

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Ten­do obti­do a reno­va­ção da Bol­sa Gug­ge­nheim no ano ante­rior, Amil­car de Cas­tro encon­tra tem­po ­para

­Está regis­tra­da ain­da em ­suas cro­no­lo­gias uma cole­ti­ va de 1979 no Palá­cio das ­Artes, em B ­ elo Hori­zon­te – “O dese­nho minei­ro”. Tam­bém são des­ta épo­ca as

s­ uas pri­mei­ras indi­vi­duais no Bra­sil: a pri­mei­ra de ­todas no Gabi­ne­te de ­Artes Grá­fi­cas (1978, São Pau­lo), ­onde apre­sen­tou uma ­série de dese­nhos com gran­de reper­ cus­são crí­ti­ca; as apre­sen­ta­ções ­solo têm con­ti­nui­da­de em 1980 na Gale­ria de ­Arte Ges­to Grá­fi­co (­Belo Hori­ zon­te), no Gabi­ne­te de ­Arte ­Raquel ­Arnaud (São Pau­ lo) e na Gale­ria da Gra­vu­ra Bra­si­lei­ra (Rio de Janei­ro).

nhos e gra­vu­ras em 1988. Na cida­de de ­Belo Hori­zon­ te, come­ça a e­ xpor com fre­qüên­cia na Gale­ria de ­Arte Ges­to Grá­fi­co (indi­vi­duais em 1981, 1983, 1985 e 1989), apre­sen­ta-se na Gale­ria Fer­nan­do Paz (“Escul­ tu­ras recen­tes”, 1987) e em 1990 na Gale­ria Cida­de.

Déca­da de 1980

Quan­to às cole­ti­vas da mes­ma épo­ca, apon­ta­mos no MAM/RJ, ­logo em 1982, a expo­si­ção “Con­tem­po­ra­nei­ da­de: home­na­gem a ­Mário Pedro­sa”. Em 1984, des­ta­ cam-se a mos­tra “Dez artis­tas minei­ros”, no ­Museu de ­Arte Con­tem­po­râ­nea de São Pau­lo e uma ­outra que lem­brou os tem­pos de for­ma­ção dos artis­tas nos a­ nos 50, “Neo­con­cre­tis­mo: 1959-1961”. Com cura­do­ria de Fre­de­ri­co ­Morais, a reme­mo­ra­ção ­teve ­lugar na Gale­ ria ­Banerj, com o ­apoio da Funar­te, reu­nin­do os mem­ bros ­mais ati­vos do movi­men­to cario­ca da épo­ca e ali­ nhan­do o artis­ta, ­mais uma vez, a seu anti­go mes­tre Weiss­mann, a ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ca e a ­Lygia ­Clark. No mes­ mo ano, Amil­car inte­gra uma impor­tan­te cole­ti­va na Fun­da­ção Bie­nal de São Pau­lo – “Tra­di­ção e rup­tu­ra, sín­te­se da ­arte e cul­tu­ra bra­si­lei­ra”.

A déca­da é extre­ma­men­te pro­fí­cua ­para o artis­ta. No Bra­sil, con­quis­ta ­novos espa­ços em cida­des que já cos­ tu­ma­vam abri­gá-lo. No Rio de Janei­ro, ­expõe in­di­vi­ dual­men­te na Gale­ria de ­Arte Con­tem­po­râ­nea Tho­mas ­Cohn em 1983, 1985 e em 1990, quan­do tem l­u­gar uma exibição come­mo­ra­ti­va ­pelos ­seus seten­ta ­anos.

Rea­li­za tam­bém uma apre­sen­ta­ção em 1986 na Gale­ria Pau­lo Kla­bin, na mes­ma cida­de. Em São Pau­lo, Amil­ car tor­n a-se assí­d uo do Gabi­n e­t e de ­A rte ­R aquel ­Arnaud (indi­vi­duais em 1982, 1986 e 1989); ­expõe na Gale­ria Uni­da­de ­Dois em 1987, no ­Paço das ­Artes em 1990, ­além de inau­gu­rar a Gale­ria de ­Arte Pau­lo Vas­ con­ce­los com uma gene­ro­sa ­série de escul­tu­ras, dese­

Já em 1987, ­vamos encon­trá-lo nova­men­te ao ­lado de a­ lguns dos melho­res da déca­da de 1950, na expo­si­ção “Abs­tra­ção geo­mé­tri­ca 1: con­cre­tis­mo e neo­con­cre­tis­ mo”, Pro­je­to ­Arte Bra­si­lei­ra, Funar­te/­INAP, Rio de Ja­ nei­ro. ­Dois ­anos ­depois, o Gabi­ne­te de ­Arte ­Raquel ­Arnaud, em São Pau­lo, pro­mo­ve o even­to inti­tu­la­do “Ges­to e escul­tu­ra”, sob cura­do­ria de Ronal­do Bri­to e com a par­ti­ci­pa­ção do escul­tor acom­pa­nha­do, des­ta fei­ta, de Eduar­do ­Sued, Ibe­rê Camar­go, Antô­nio ­Dias, Jor­ge Guin­le, ­Mira Schen­del e ­Willys de Cas­tro. Assis­ ti­mos, ain­da nes­te mes­mo ano, a expo­si­ção “­Cada ca­ be­ça, uma sen­ten­ça”, uma iti­ne­ran­te que ocu­pou tem­ po­ra­ria­men­te os espa­ços da Uni­ver­si­da­de Fede­ral de

Quan­to aos prê­mios des­te perío­do, Amil­car rece­be o Gran­de Prê­mio de Escul­tu­ra no VI S ­ alão Nacio­nal de ­Arte de ­Belo Hori­zon­te (1974, ­Museu da Pam­pu­lha), e ­outros ­dois igual­men­te impor­tan­tes no VI Pano­ra­ma da ­Arte ­Atual Bra­si­lei­ra de 1977 (­Museu de ­Arte Mo­ der­na de São Pau­lo/MAM-SP), com os dese­nhos que se tor­n a­r am par­t e do acer­v o da ins­t i­t ui­ç ão, e no VII Pano­ra­ma da ­Arte ­Atual Bra­si­lei­ra de 1978, com escul­ tu­ras. Em 1979 é home­na­gea­do com uma S ­ ala Espe­ cial na XV Bie­nal de São Pau­lo e, par­ti­ci­pa, ain­da, da Bie­nal de Dese­nho e Gra­vu­ra do Méxi­co.

Amilcar de Castro e Ronaldo Brito, ateliê do artista, Belo Horizonte, 1999

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­Ouro Pre­to/MG, do MAM/SP e do ­Museu Nacio­nal de ­Belas ­Artes/­MNBA, Rio de Janei­ro.

Den­tre as curio­si­da­des do perío­do, des­ta­ca-se um painel de 119m2 ­para a Biblio­te­ca Públi­ca de ­Belo Horizonte, con­fec­cio­na­do em 1984 por oca­sião do proje­to ­Arte nos ­Muros, que con­tou com seme­lhan­te participação de ­Tomie Ohta­ke e Alfredo Vol­pi em São Pau­lo e ­Ivan Frei­ tas, Aluí­sio Car­vão e Rober­to Magalhães no Rio de Janei­ ro. Inde­ci­so a prin­cí­pio em rea­li­zar um tra­ba­lho de “pin­ tor”, Amil­car de Cas­tro deixou, con­tu­do, nas pare­des do pré­dio o inte­res­san­te regis­tro pic­tó­ri­co de um escul­tor.

No exte­rior, s­ uas o ­ bras grá­fi­cas s­ eguem em 1984 por ­oito paí­ses par­ti­ci­pan­do de uma apre­sen­ta­ção cole­ti­va, patro­ci­na­da ­pelo Ita­ma­raty e inti­tu­la­da “A cor e o dese­ nho no Bra­sil”; tam­bém ­expõe tra­ba­lhos ­sobre ­papel em 1985 na Sono­ma Sta­te Art Gal­lery, Cali­fór­nia – “Bra­zil: 10 W ­ orks on P ­ aper”; em P ­ aris, apre­sen­ta-se no Geor­ges Pom­pi­dou em 1986 – “Art bré­si­lien du XXè­me siè­cle”; em 1987 é con­vi­da­do a repre­sen­tar o p ­ aís no pro­je­to Escul­tu­ras Lati­no-Ame­ri­ca­nas em ­Madri e, ­dois ­anos ­após, inte­gra a cole­ti­va “20 ­Artists”, na Ama­ zon Art Gal­lery em ­Nova ­York. ­Entre as gran­des expo­si­ções e home­na­gens da déca­da, ano­ta­mos sua par­ti­ci­pa­ção no ­XIII ­Salão Nacio­nal de ­Arte de ­Belo Hori­zon­te (1981, ­Museu da Pam­pu­lha), ­onde con­quis­tou o Prê­mio Pre­fei­tu­ra ofe­re­ci­do por oca­sião do 84o ani­ver­sá­rio da cida­de. Em 1985, Amil­ car é con­v i­d a­d o p ­ ara a ­s ala espe­c ial do V ­ III S ­ alão Nacio­nal de ­Artes Plás­ti­cas: “A ­arte e ­seus mate­riais”.

Inte­gra em 1987 a mos­tra espe­cial da XIX Bie­nal Inter­ na­cio­nal de São Pau­lo: “Em bus­ca da essên­cia – ele­ men­tos de redu­ção na a­ rte bra­si­lei­ra”, ao l­ado de Wal­

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tér­cio Cal­das, ­Dudi ­Maia ­Rosa, Eduar­do ­Sued, ­Franz Weiss­mann, den­tre ­outros. E, no mes­mo ano, a cida­de de Parai­só­po­lis fes­te­ja a inau­gu­ra­ção do Cen­tro Edu­ cacio­nal e Cul­tu­ral Amil­car de Cas­tro. ­Dois ­anos ­após, as lem­bran­ças ­recaem ­sobre a belís­si­ ma “Retros­pec­ti­va”, orga­ni­za­da ­pelo ­Paço Impe­rial no Rio de Janei­ro, sob a espe­cial cura­do­ria de Pau­lo Ser­ gio Duar­te que espa­lhou as ­obras de Amil­car des­de o inte­rior do his­tó­ri­co pré­dio até a pra­ça XV. Ain­da nes­te mes­mo ano de 1989, foi pos­sí­vel nova­men­te ver ­mais algu­mas de s­ uas ­peças na XX Bie­nal Inter­na­cio­nal de São Pau­lo, ­onde apre­sen­tou ­três gran­des “pin­tu­ras” e uma escul­tu­ra em fer­ro.

No ano de 1990, Amil­car de Cas­tro dei­xa em defi­ni­ti­vo o magis­té­rio, pas­san­do a dedi­car-se exclu­si­va­men­te à pro­d u­ç ão artís­t i­c a ­d epois de ver fra­c as­s a­d as nes­t e perío­do ­duas inte­res­san­tes ini­cia­ti­vas de cará­ter peda­ gó­gi­co por fal­ta de ­apoio: o ­Núcleo Expe­ri­men­tal Guig­ nard (1980) e a Esco­la de ­Artes e Ofí­cios de Con­ta­gem (1983-1985).

Déca­da de 1990 Há mui­to con­sa­gra­do ­como um dos artis­tas fun­da­men­ tais ­para a con­so­li­da­ção da ­arte moder­na bra­si­lei­ra, os últi­mos ­anos do sécu­lo XX são espe­cial­men­te gene­ro­ sos ­para Amil­car de Cas­tro. Não é à-toa: nes­te perío­do, o escul­tor vol­ta a “pin­tar”, i.e., reto­ma os gran­des dese­ nhos em cor s­ obre t­ ela ou madei­ra, e pas­sa a expe­ri­ men­tar o tra­ba­lho com cerâ­mi­ca.

Den­tre as tan­tas mos­tras cole­ti­vas que o artis­ta inte­ grou nes­tes últi­mos ­anos do sécu­lo XX, mere­cem des­

ta­­que: “Pola­ri­da­des e pers­pec­ti­vas” (Paço das ­Ar­tes, São Pau­l o), “Bra­z i­l ian Con­t em­p o­r ary Art” (Par­q ue ­Lage, Gale­rias Sér­gio Mil­liet e Rodri­go de ­Melo Fran­ co/Funarte, Rio de Janei­ro) e “­Coca-­Cola: 50 ­anos com ­arte” (MAM/RJ e MAM/SP), todas em 1992; no ano se­ ­ ASP e MAM/BA guinte, “Qua­tro X M ­ inas” (MAM/RJ, M e Palá­cio das ­Artes/­Belo Hori­zon­te), “Aspec­tos da gra­ vu­ra bra­si­lei­ra” (Bol­sa de Valo­res, Rio de Janei­ro), “A cerâ­mi­ca na ­arte con­tem­po­râ­nea bra­si­lei­ra” (BNDES, Rio de Janei­ro) e “Poé­ti­ca” (Gabi­ne­te de ­Arte ­Raquel ­Arnaud, São Pau­lo); “Bra­sil: 100 a­ nos de a­ rte moder­na – Cole­ção Sér­gio ­Fadel” (1993-1994 Gale­ria do Sécu­lo XX, ­MNBA, Rio de Janei­ro); Bie­nal Bra­sil Sécu­lo XX, uma gran­de mos­tra iti­ne­ran­te que per­cor­reu ­seis cida­ des bra­si­lei­ras e ain­da ­Tóquio, ­de­pois de inau­gu­ra­da na Fun­da­ção Bie­nal de São Pau­lo, em 1994, mesmo ano da mostra “Pre­ci­são” (Cen­tro Cul­tu­ral Ban­co do Bra­ sil, Rio de Janei­ro); “Moran­di no Bra­sil” (Cen­tro Cul­­ tu­r al São Pau­l o), “Desa­f ios con­t em­p o­r â­n eos” (P.A. Obje­tos de ­Arte, Rio de Janei­ro) e “­Entre o dese­nho e a escul­tu­ra” (MAM/SP), em 1995.

Na segun­da meta­de da déca­da, subli­nha­mos as seguin­ tes cole­ti­vas: em 1996, Gale­ria ­Elms Les­ters Pain­ting ­Rooms (Lon­dres), “Escul­tu­ras urba­nas” (Gabi­ne­te de ­Arte ­Raquel ­Arnaud, São Pau­lo), “Qua­tro mes­tres es­ cul­to­res bra­si­lei­ros con­tem­po­râ­neos” (Palá­cio Ita­ma­ra­ ty, Bra­sí­lia) e “­Deux artis­tes bré­si­liens” (Gale­rie ­Debret, ­Paris); em 1997 exibe-se na mostra “Con­so­li­da­ção da moder­ni­da­de em ­Belo Hori­zon­te” (Pro­je­to um Sécu­lo de His­tó­ria das ­Artes Plás­ti­cas em ­Belo Hori­zon­te, ­Mu­seu da Pam­pu­lha); e em 1998, o artista po­de ser visto nas exposições “Har­mo­nia de con­tras­tes” (­Kolams Ga­le­ria de ­Arte, ­Belo Hori­zon­te), “Tri­di­men­sio­na­li­da­de na ­arte bra­si­lei­ra do Sécu­lo XX” (Ins­ti­tu­to Cul­tu­ral

­Itaú, São Pau­lo) e “­Arte cons­tru­ti­va no Bra­sil: Cole­ção Adol­pho Leir­ner” (MAM/RJ e MAM/SP).

Quan­to às mos­tras indi­vi­duais, ­além da mere­ci­da “Re­ tros­pec­ti­va” de 1992, rea­li­za­da no ­Museu de ­Arte de São Pau­lo, e da mos­tra no ­Museu Vic­tor Mei­rel­les (Flo­ ­ria­nó­po­lis, 1996), diver­sas gale­rias abri­ram ­suas por­tas ­para o mes­tre: Fer­nan­do ­Pedro Escri­tó­rio de ­Ar­te e Espa­ço Cul­tu­ral ­CEMIG (­Belo Hori­zon­te, 1991), ­Ma­noel Mace­do Gale­ria de ­Arte (1992, ­Belo Hori­zon­te), Gabi­ne­te de ­Arte ­Raquel ­Arnaud (São Pau­lo, 1992/ 1994/1998), Gale­ria de ­Arte da Uni­ver­si­da­de Fede­ral Flu­mi­nen­se (Nite­rói, RJ, 1993), P.A. Obje­tos de ­Arte (Rio de Janei­ro, 1994/ 1996/1998), e uma expo­si­ção de dese­ nhos rea­li­za­da, em 1996, em Bue­nos ­Aires na Ga­le­ria Por­ti­na­ri – “Un expo­nen­te del con­cre­tis­mo bra­si­le­ño.

Em 1995 o artis­ta é agra­cia­do com o Prê­mio Nacio­nal de ­Arte, atra­vés da Funar­te. No ano de 1996, o artis­ta é con­vi­da­do ­pela Secre­ta­ria Muni­ci­pal de Cul­tu­ra a ins­ta­lar uma ­obra no cen­tro his­tó­ri­co do Rio de Janei­ ro; ­para tan­to, sele­cio­na a famo­sa escul­tu­ra que par­ti­ ci­pa­ra, com suces­so, 33 a­ nos ­antes, da II Bie­nal Inter­ na­cio­nal de São Pau­lo (1953). Por coincidência, a o ­ bra é fixa­da em um ­lugar pró­xi­mo do que ­viria a ser a ­sede do Cen­tro de ­Arte ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ca.

Um ano ­depois, Amil­car vê sua pro­du­ção nova­men­te reve­ren­cia­da: reco­nhe­ci­da­men­te um dos ­mais ati­vos e cria­ti­vos artis­tas nacio­nais, ­logo na pri­mei­ra edi­ção do Prê­mio John­nie Wal­ker de Artes Plásticas, o escul­tor con­q uis­t a o Pri­m ei­r o Prê­m io. Encon­t ra­m os, nes­t e mes­mo ano de 1997, o artis­ta par­ti­ci­pan­do da I Bie­nal do Mer­co­sul, rea­li­za­da em Por­to Ale­gre, e con­quis­tan­ do um pri­mei­ro espa­ço edi­to­rial totalmente a ele dedi-

cado: o l­ivro Amil­car de Cas­tro, com tex­tos de Ronal­do Bri­to e Rodri­go ­Naves, é lan­ça­do ­pela ­Cosac & ­Naify Edi­ções. Em 1998, é home­na­gea­do ­mais uma vez com uma ­Sala Espe­cial no XVI S ­ alão Na­cio­nal de ­Artes Plás­ ti­cas, a­ lém de inte­grar a IV Se­ma­na de ­Arte de Lon­dri­na.

Incan­sá­vel, ain­da no mes­mo ano de 1998, o artis­ta tra­ ba­lha em uma monu­men­tal escul­tu­ra de 24 tone­la­das de aço Cor-Ten e ­oito m ­ etros de diâ­me­tro ­para um bair­ ro da velha Ber­lim Oriental – Hel­lers­dorf. A o ­ bra foi incluí­da, ao ­lado dos igual­men­te gran­dio­sos tra­ba­lhos de ­Frans Krajc­berg (madei­ra), ­Siron Fran­co (con­cre­to) e ­Miguel dos San­tos (cerâ­mi­ca), em um pro­je­to ven­ce­ dor, em 1997, de refor­mu­la­ção urba­na de auto­ria dos arqui­t e­t os bra­s i­l ei­r os Mar­c e­l o Fer­r az e Fran­c is­c o Fanuc­ci, ten­do ­sido o con­jun­to inau­gu­ra­do ­este ano.

No ano em cur­so, o minei­ro Amil­car de Cas­tro, aos 79 ­anos, pro­van­do dis­por ain­da de mui­ta ener­gia, rea­li­za ­nada ­menos que uma expo­si­ção cole­ti­va e qua­tro indi­ vi­­duais: “Qua­tro déca­das de dese­nho minei­ro” (Gale­ ria do Espa­ço Cul­tu­ral Tele­mar, ­Belo Hori­zon­te), ­Ko­lams Gale­ria de ­Arte (­Belo Hori­zon­te), Espa­ço Uni­ver­ si­tá­rio da Uni­ver­si­da­de do Espí­ri­to San­to em Vitó­ria, ­Museu de ­Arte Moder­na Aloí­sio Maga­lhães (Reci­fe) e, ­para encer­rar o milê­nio, uma espe­ta­cu­lar expo­si­ção com ­peças iné­di­tas no Cen­tro de ­Arte ­Hélio Oiti­ci­ca e na pra­ça Tira­den­tes, no Rio de Janei­ro.

Agra­de­ci­men­tos Alber­to Tas­si­na­ri, Amil­car de Cas­tro, Car­los R. M. ­Levy, Char­les Wat­son, Francisco Fanuc­ci, Gló­ria Fer­rei­ra, Mar­ce­lo Fer­raz, Pau­lo Coe­lho, ­Raquel ­Arnaud, Rodri­go ­Naves, Ronal­do Bri­to, Sér­gio Sis­ter, Síl­via Cin­­tra, ­Sula Danows­ki, Van­da Kla­bin e Vivia­ne Mates­co.

instalação da escultura no bairro Hellersdorf, Berlim, 1998 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 2”), ø 8m

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Uneasy steel

A series of new sculptures by Amilcar de Castro is, by itself, a significant event. In addition, the sculptures in question are, in a way, his first site-specific works, made for the particular material conditions of the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, the size of the rooms, the maximum resistance of the concrete floors. There is also another first: at the same time, a number of monumental pieces by Castro are on display on Praça Tiradentes, a populous square in Rio’s historic cen-­ ter. But as if all this were not enough, the sculptures themselves indicate a new moment, a renewed experimental urge in the unique constructive idiom of an artist whose career spans nearly five decades. To attempt to decipher and throw a light on this surprising new moment is the challenge faced by this unpretentious critical study – caution is surely necessary, but so is daring.

Let us begin, in a didactic vein, with drawing1 – the function, the logic and the imaginativeness of the exercise in free geometrical thought that “precedes” the creation of the sculptures – and with what is perhaps an obvious statement: from the very beginning Amilcar de Castro is in full poetic control of his manifestly corporeal plastic values. This is, then, an autonomous creative process. Nothing is really a priori in these studies already imbued with the imaginative potential of oxidized iron, which seems to be inevitable in Castro’s sensibility. In other words, from the outset his geometrical inspiration requires the plane of the blank sheet of paper, the absolute availability of a world without hindrances. In this ceaseless transit between imaginative virtuality and strict material determination, Castro’s process of sculpting redoes and undoes, in his way, the classic metaphysical opposition between the sensible and the intelligible.

Ronaldo Brito

Nevertheless, for all his well-known irreducible disagreement with orthodox constructivism, his relatively both archaic and “deconstructive” quality, in the best Platonic tradition of Western rationalism, up to now Amilcar de Castro had been taking regular geometric figures as his point of departure. He took squares, triangles and circles, cut and/or folded them, in this way revealing their paradoxical openness, and by materializing them in iron sheets opened them against the resistance of matter. At the same time, characteristically, he illuminated them through the very opacity of ferrous oxide, which endowed them with a certain throbbing quality of something alive – in short, with an existential dimension.

Let us consider for a moment, in passing, Castro’s famous folds, the hallmark of his original constructive logic. If I am not mistaken, these folds have a double meaning: they repay a debt to tradition even as they free the artist to raise a penetrating question about the future. To a certain extent, and because of their very condition as folds, they make the sculpture turn on itself and in this way achieve unity; thus they point to the morphological notion of outline. In a sculpture that starts out from a drastic abstract reduction and that attempts to encode itself by this strict articulation of geometric planes, the fold, always suggesting volume, is what ensures its innerness and, by extension, its reflexiveness.

Attempting to release for good this very same articulation of plans, Lygia Clark’s hinges took the place of this contortion of matter, which to her would have seemed illusionistic, a sign of suspicious innerness, associated with the traditional subject/object dualism.

In her Bichos, the hinges function quite well, but clearly they were no more than provisional solutions – not

only is there something mechanical about them but also they could not possibly work on a much larger scale.

Today the Bichos are still seductive, like restless, living Busts. Clark’s entire later career, in fact, is marked by a curious effort: the search for hypersensitivization through progressive dematerialization, moved above all by a basic phenomenological mistrust of the metaphysics of presence. And it is precisely this “square” presence that Castro has always tried to reverse, in a no less phenomenological spirit, by means of the unexpected but conclusive revelation of its intrinsic openness – and without relinquishing the inevitable corporeal nature of sculpture. If there is divergence between Castro and, say, Max Bill, it is precisely here: Castro’s works are never developed in a virtual atmosphere of geometric conceptualization – equations we are to solve in ideal space – but rather take root in the world’s ground.

And thanks to the “wild” use of oxidized Cor-Ten steel, they also bear the very memory of nature that the anonymity of concretist materials sublimated. In short: the folds repotentiate the age-old memory of morphological continuity in an active, innovative way.

On the other hand, time has shown that these folds are, as an aesthetic idea, incomparably stronger and historically more far-reaching than mere hinges. In the physics of aesthetics, in the life-world where the work of art operates and produces change, they function as true topological mobilizers. In the sphere of formal imagination – usually underestimated but nearly all-powerful on an unconscious level, since it informs our thought – they establish a new geometrical nexus, in accordance with the uncanny clashes and malleable conjunctions that are proper to a contemporary interaction between self and world. By breaking with the supposed ideality of the geometric entity, they

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escultura, 1989 ferro (chapas de 3” a 8”), dimensões variáveis

46

reintroduce the élan vital of their origin and once again face the problem on the root level: they immediately materialize it into a world. In this way, they keep the modern promise of emancipation, allowing us an uncertain, vibrant foray onto the surface of the real.

Beyond an obvious sign of the baroque, the fold is a plastic find combining the imponderable given with the exact calculation of sculpture, and reformulating the sensuous, empirical dilemma of making – that is, of making life human.

The typical “punch” of Amilcar de Castro’s work, the rough aftertaste it has acquired through contact with life, endows it with a markedly sculptural weight, revaluing the sense of permanence in the midst of the volatility of the contemporary world. Its cultured constructivism has never backed away an inch from the premises of an autonomous, nonmimetic art decisively committed to the project of constructing the real. But this is done with a unique, somewhat unexpected lyricism, emphatically asserting a concept of art that refuses all ideological programs, whether edifying or rebellious. Its unconditional surrender to the voracious transforming energy of modern planar language soon settles on the eternal enigma of its initial moment – the impetus of the structural act.

Compared with another major work that has always run parallel to it, Franz Weissmann’s – which flows with virtuosity between planar possibilities – a sculpture by Amilcar de Castro is a more solid, elementary fact, posing once again the mystery of cohesion in openness, something that seems to require the reiteration of the same grave question. I don’t know if dramatic is the right word, probably not; the fact is that there is an emotional density, an ethical scruple, in this concentration on sculpture as an event, as if possibilities, as such, were secondary, if not frivolous.

With hindsight, it would be easy to trace the progressive relativization of the ideal unit of geometric solids followed by this experienced and impudent

geometer. By the Eighties he was already freeing one or more elements from the block of the sculpture, thus incorporating emptiness and widening the scope of action of the piece. Significantly, the occasional manipulation of the loose elements, their playful availability, was counterbalanced by their own weight, and also by the “delay” in visual assimilation required by each new situation. The point was less to engage the spectator’s participation than to involve him or her, bodily, in the aesthetic dilemma of the boundaries between cohesion and dispersion. This process grew progressively until it reached its apex in a series of small but quite heavy pieces that are no more than the open contact between geometric solids. Here there are no morphological connections: everything is the result of the montage of discrete elements. Since I saw them for the first time, ten years ago, I have felt sure that these sculptures are among the best ever produced by a Brazilian artist. The plastic concept of these works I have named – with an irreverence I hope will be excused – Mineiro Dadaism.2 These works exemplify an open formalization that is close to Dada randomness, but they are slow, carefully thought-out products, as though they had been distilled with exact calculation so as to coordinate their variable constellations.

Although I have for years been following this austere adventure, which seems determined to flesh out the constructive planar aesthetics so as to imbue it with existential philosophical substance, my astonishment before these recent pieces by Castro is undiminished. Not because they seem to be someone else’s work – however novel, they remain unmistakably his; and this is precisely where the difficulty lies. Partly it is the surprise of the heightened horizontality and lightness; but mostly it is because one immediately senses that these precise works, with their high degree of formal cohesion, are trajectories, involving more than one move in the execution of their single structural gesture, implying several stages in the solution of

their unquestionable unity. It occurred to me from the outset that I had never seen better examples of what Husserl called fusion of horizons.

When I talked with Amilcar de Castro, the two of us hunched over the studies on his drawing board, he gave me an “explanation” that was fully convincing – so much so, in fact, that my astonishment increased all the more for it. The fluency and calm with which this veteran artist literally oversteps the boundaries of regular geometric figures in order to investigate infinite relations between them are, to say the very least, disconcerting.

On the virtual plane of the paper he will place, say, a circle and a square at various distances and heights.

Then he draws countless lines of contact from the diameter of the circle to the area of the square, and back.

Among the multiple “figures” that arise out of this crisscrossing, the artist’s sight is irresistibly attracted by this or that one. The result is a sculpture that, if one is allowed a bit of an overstatement, invents a new classical geometric figure. In any case, it achieves the feat of representing a certain open conjunction between square and circle. Is this a retrospective illusion or do we really manage to see the trace, or the halo, of the circle and the square in the indefinable form of the sculpture? The unexpected torsion that joins contrary actions does not allow the eye to rest. And the strange ingenuity of a suspended drawing, as it were, has repercussions on these sculptures that seem to alight on the ground rather than sprout from it. This in no way detracts from their proverbial concreteness, but only inverts it. In short, we get a perfect pre-Socratic aphorism: two separate moments make up a whole unity.

And I have been discussing two moments only in function of the fold, the curve that ensures the mad continuity between unequal segments. Of course, one cannot break down the aesthetic perception of this wholeness. This we are trying to do a posteriori, with the (perhaps redundant, perhaps extravagant) critical

purpose of understanding, by approximation, the mystery of its integrity. However, even adopting a frontal view, the situation is complicated. One of the segments performs the following maneuver: down and backward, slightly sideward, then absurdly “onward” along another segment of upward force, in the opposite direction and with increasing matter, also slightly dislocated.

The dynamics of the initial movement we referred to above is in this way reinterpreted in complex terms.

There is nothing simple about this first moment: it is already an articulation, a problematic structural core involving the interplay between inertia and impetus, distance and orientation.

Since we no longer believe in the Utopia of the Plane – we experience the disenchantment and melancholy of the end of utopias, the feeling of oppression caused by a succession of deformations of the plane – Cas­tro’s transitive geometry cannot fail to give us renewed encouragement through its elastic constructive positivity. The insinuating way how his frankly horizontal sculptures extend themselves in the world, along it and across it, rehabilitates the malleable truth of geometry, its voluble dynamism. Clearly, to Amilcar de Castro geometry does not represent “the moral crisis of our time,” to quote Barnett Newman’s admirable phrase, because he has never limited himself to the functionalist logic. Now, however, he has advanced beyond this, shaken off the last traces of the orthodoxy of the old discipline so that he can, with the utmost rigor, geometrize almost the way one breathes.

Fishing Between the feeling and the word there is a brooding spell.

A silent spell.

Poetry is charmed silence moved to word.

It ponders. Unveils. Imprints.

The line does not exist.

But when a man’s hand makes it, it is drawing.

It obeys like a river conspiring with its banks.

It is thought, thinking.

And it thinks as it draws and divides and unveils justice mediated mediating opposite spaces: map of its destiny.

I always search for a simple language but all I find are scattered letters – fossils of me.

As if man, even persevering in the sensible. were a forgotten experience.

Sometimes, however, quick like a fish biting at bait a flash of lightning will imprint the finished form quite clearly.

Freely given, the harvest and the source of fellowship.

They say this often happens when you’re fishing.

1

I mean, of course, Castro’s activities at the drawing board and not the works on canvas, wood or paper he quite properly calls “drawings” so that no one will look for strictly painterly qualities in them. A few examples of these extraordinary “drawings,” never before shown, may be seen, side by side with the sculptures, at the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica.

2 An allusion to Castro’s roots in Minas Gerais, a state whose people are seen as proverbially cautious and suspicious of any sort. (Translator’s note)

Amilcar de Castro May 28, 1986

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Chronology

The artist Amilcar Augusto Pereira de Castro was born on June 8, 1920, in Paraisópolis, Minas Gerais. After living in a number of small towns in Minas Gerais for short periods, Judge Amilcar Augusto de Castro (later to become judge of the court of appeals), his wife Maria Nazareth Pereira de Castro and his children settled in Belo Horizonte in 1934.

At the age of 21, Amilcar de Castro entered law school at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, graduating in 1945. Ever since, Castro held a number of important public posts.

However, since a year before graduation he had been studying drawing and painting under Alberto da Veiga Guignard, and figurative sculpture under Franz Weissmann. These studies continued up to the end of the decade, but in 1945 his work was chosen for the modern section of the 51st National Salon of Fine Arts, and in 1947 he won the bronze medal for drawing at the 52nd National Salon of Fine Arts with two drawings representing the city of Ouro Preto.

In 1949 he was present when the Swiss sculptor Max Bill lectured on his most famous work of art – Tripartite Unit – which had been exhibited at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo in the previous year. In short, it may be said that it was the study of drawing that brought Castro to abstract sculpture, in spite of his training under Weissmann. He was again included in the 55th National Salon of Fine Arts in 1950, with Máscara de Ceschiatti and Nu. The Fifties In 1951, Amilcar de Castro was awarded the bronze medal for sculpture at the 3rd Bahian Salon of Fine Arts, in Salvador, Bahia. In the

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same year he participated in the Modern Division of the 56 th National Salon of Fine Arts – one sculpture and two drawings. In 1952, he married Dur­cí­lia Caldeira de Castro and soon after moved to Rio de Janeiro, always holding public posts. In 1953 his son Rodrigo was born; in the following year his daughter Ana Maria was born. Also in 1953 the artist began to exhibit at biennials: at the 2 nd International São Paulo Biennial he showed his first constructivist work, created under the impact of Max Bill, then quite influential in Brazil.

Two years later, the artist won First Prize for sculpture at the National Bahia Modern Art Salon and at the same time he contacted the São Paulo Concretist group and, soon later, the Neoconcretes, the movement’s counterpart in Rio. Exchanging experiences with such artists and theoreticians as Mário Pedrosa, Ferreira Gullar, Hélio Oiti­cica, Lygia Clark and Franz Weissmann, joining debates, Castro finally signed the Neo­concrete Manifesto, in March 1959, assuming a decisive position – “particularly in relation to concrete art raised to a dangerous rationalistic exacerbation,” in the words of the manifesto.

His works of art were shown at the most important exhibitions of both groups up to the end of the decade: First National Exhibition of Concrete Art (1956-57, Museu de Arte de São Paulo/ MASP and Ministério da Educa­ç ão/ MEC , Rio de Janeiro), Exhibition of Neo­ concrete Art (1959, Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro/MAM-RJ and Belvedere da Sé, Salvador) and 2nd Exhibition of Neoconcrete Art (1960, MEC/RJ); and also at the Brazilian sections of the fourth and fifth editions of the International São Paulo Biennial (1957 and 1959, respectively). The 1957 Biennial, an

event of great importance for showing Brazilian what was being done abroad, gave Amilcar an opportunity to see the works of the Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza, which were to have a major impact on his own production.

From 1957 to 1959, Castro directed the now famous revision of the graphic design of the Rio daily Jornal do Brasil and, in 1958, of the magazines A Cigarra and O Cruzeiro, confirming his skill in the graphic arts. As the decade drew to a close, in 1960, Amilcar de Castro not only won First Prize for sculpture at the 15th Belo Horizonte Municipal Salon of Fine Arts but also was awarded the silver medal for sculpture at the 9th National Salon of Modern Art (1960, MAM/RJ). Finally, in the same year, with such Concrete and Neoconcrete artists as Willys de Castro, Aluísio Carvão, Franz Weissmann, Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, he took part in the major exhibition “Konkrete Kunst,” organized by Max Bill at the Helm Haus, Zurich.

The Sixties During the decade, Castro’s took part in the 7th International São Paulo Biennial (1963) and in successive editions of the National Salon of Modern Art (10th, 1961; 11th, 1962; 13th, 1964; 15th, 1966; and 16th, 1967, MAM/ RJ); soon he was given hors concours status.

He was awarded First Prize at the Minas Gerais Salon of Modern Art in 1962.

In the Sixties, he was again quite active in the field of graphic arts: he designed the first edition of the Enciclopédia Brasileira BARSA (1962) and redesigned the dailies: Correio da Manhã (1965) and Última Hora (1967) in Rio, the Estado de Mi­n as and the Minas Gerais (1967) in Minas Ge­rais; the Manaus Jornal da

Tarde and the Be­lém A Província do Pará (1968). Castro also worked on the design of Manchete magazine and of many books published by Editora Vozes (1966).

In 1966, the artist made the props for the Man­g ueira samba school, assisted by Hélio Oiticica and others. In the same year, his works were sent to the Buenos Aires Museo de Arte Mo­derno for the group show “Artistas brasi­ leños contemporáneos.”

Castro was awarded the Foreign Travel Prize at the 16th National Salon of Modern Art (MAM/ RJ), in 1967, but his trip was made possible

only when in the following year he received a grant from the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, nominated by the Foundation’s director, Henry Geldzahler, on occasion of his presentation at the 1963 Biennial. With his family – now including a third child (Pedro, born in 1960) – he went to the United States in mid-1968. He stayed in New York for a short time and soon moved to Elizabeth, New Jersey.

He closed the decade with two noteworthy exhibitions in New York City: in 1969, his first solo show at the Komblee Gallery, where he presented a series of works based on his experiences with sheets of stainless steel; in 1970, another at the Convent of Jesus’ Sacred Heart.

The Seventies Having renewed his Guggenheim grant in the previous year, in 1971 Castro found time to participate in a group show with three other Latin-American artists – Waldo Balart, Alejan­ dro Puentes and Rubens Gerchman – at New York University’s Brazilian Institute. Back in Brazil, he settled in Belo Horizonte and began to work as a teacher: from 1973 to 1977 he

Christina Bach

taught sculpture at the Fundação de Arte de Ouro Preto and the Fundação Escola Guignard, which he directed for four years (1974-77).

From 1977 to 1990 he restricted his teaching activities to the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais’s School of Fine Arts. In mid-decade Castro returned to drawing, an activity he had neglected since 1952.

Among the most important shows of the decade, besides the 10th Campinas Salon of Modern Art (SP, 1975) and the 4 th Belo Horizonte Global Winter Salon in 1976, mention should also be made of the group show “Projeto construtivo brasileiro na arte: 1950 – 1962” (1977, Pinacoteca do Estado, São Paulo and MAM/RJ), for which Castro also worked on the graphic design of the catalog. The artist was represented at the fateful show “Arte agora III: América Latina – geometria sensível” at Rio de Janeiro’s Museu de Arte Moderna. With the participation of 120 Brazilian artists and a room dedicated to the Uruguayan painter Torres-García, all under the curatorship of Ro­ berto Pontual, the exhibition ended earlier than scheduled when an unforgettable fire destroyed part of the museum building and many of the works on display, as well as much of MAM’s own collection.

Also on record are a 1979 group show at the Palácio das Artes, in Belo Horizonte –“O desenho mineiro” – and Castro’s first solo shows in Brazil, beginning at the Gabinete de Artes Gráficas (1978, São Paulo), where he presented a series of drawings, to great critical acclaim, followed in 1980 by other exhibitions at the Galeria de Arte Gesto Gráfico (Belo Hori­ zonte), the Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud (São Paulo) and the Galeria da Gravura Bra­ sileira (Rio de Janeiro).

As to prizes, in this period he won the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the 6th Belo Horizonte National Art Salon (1974, Museu da Pam­pu­ lha) and two others, equally important: at the 6th Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art of 1977 (Museu de Arte Mo­der­na, São Pau­­lo/ MAM-SP), when he displayed drawings that were to become part of the institution’s collection, and at the 7th Panorama of Contemporary Brazilian Art of 1978, in which his entries were sculptures. In 1979 Castro was honored with a special room at the 15th São Paulo Biennial, and also exhibited at the Mexican Drawing and Printmaking Biennial.

The Eighties The Eighties were an extremely prolific period for Castro. In Brazil, he gained more ground in the cities where he had already exhibited. In Rio de Janeiro, he put on solo shows at the Galeria de Arte Contemporânea Thomas Cohn in 1983, 1985 and 1990, when his 70th birthday was celebrated. He also exhibited at the Galeria Paulo Klabin in Rio in 1986. In São Paulo, Castro showed his work a number of times at the Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud (solo shows in 1982, 1986 and 1989), at the Galeria Unidade Dois in 1987 and at the Paço das Artes in 1990. In addition, he opened the Galeria de Arte Paulo Vasconcelos with a generous display of sculptures, drawings and prints in 1988. In Belo Horizonte he exhibited frequently at the Galeria de Arte Gesto Gráfico (solo shows in 1981, 1983, 1985 and 1989), and displayed works at the Galeria Fernando Paz (“Esculturas recentes”, 1987) and at the Galeria Cidade (1990).

The group shows of this period began with “Contemporaneidade: homenagem a Mário

Pe­drosa,” at Rio’s Museu de Arte Moderna in 1982. In 1984, there was the show “Dez artistas mineiros” at the Museu de Arte Contem­ porânea in São Paulo, and another dedicated to the formative period of the artists in the Fifties: “Neoconcretismo: 1959-1961.” Curated

by Frederico Morais, the show was held at the Galeria Banerj, with support from Funarte; it included the most active members of the Rio movement, so that once again Cas­tro’s work could be seen side by side with pieces by his former teacher Weissmann, Hélio Oiti­cica and Lygia Clark. In the same year, he took part in a major group show at the Fun­dação São Paulo Biennial: “Tradição e ruptura, síntese da arte e cultura brasileira.”

In 1987, Castro again exhibited side by side with some of the best artists of the Fifties in “Abstração geométrica 1: concretismo e neoconcretismo,” Projeto Arte Brasileira, Funarte/ INAP, Rio de Janeiro. Two years later, the Ga­ binete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, in São Paulo, promoted an event entitled “Gesto e escultura,” curated by Ronaldo Brito, at which the artist was present, together with Eduardo Sued, Iberê Camargo, Antônio Dias, Jorge Guinle, Mira Schendel and Willys de Castro. In the same year there was the exhibition “Cada ca­ beça, uma sentença,” a circulating exhibition seen at the Universidade Federal de Ouro Pre­ to, MG, at São Paulo’s Museu de Arte Moder­ na and Rio’s Museu Nacional de Belas Artes/ MNBA. One of the curiosities of this period is a 119-square-meter panel for Belo Horizonte’s Public Library, done in 1984 as part of project Arte nos Muros, with the participation of Tomie Ohtake and Alfredo Volpi in São Paulo and Ivan Frei­tas, Aluísio Carvão and Roberto

Ma­galhães in Rio de Janeiro. Although Castro was at first in doubt about working as a painter, he left on the walls of the building an interesting pictorial production by a sculptor.

Abroad, in 1984, Castro’s graphic works were exhibited in eight foreign countries, in a group show sponsored by Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs entitled “A cor e o desenho no Brasil.”

In addition, he held an exhibition at the Sonoma State Art Gallery, California, in 1985, called “Brazil: 10 Works on Paper”; in Paris, he exhibited at the Georges Pompidou in 1986, in the show “Art brésilien du XXème siècle”; in 1987 he was invited to represent his country in the project Esculturas Latino-americanas, in Madrid and, two years later, was included in the group show “20 Artists” at the Amazon Art Gallery, New York.

During the decade, Castro took part in a number of major exhibitions and received several honors. He showed works at the 13 th National Belo Horizonte Art Salon (1981, Museu da Pam­pulha), where he won the City Prize offered on occasion of the city’s 84th anniversary.

In 1985, he was invited to exhibit at the special room of the 8th National Art Salon: “A arte e seus materiais.” In 1987 he was present at the special show of the XIX International São Paulo Biennial: “Em busca da essência – elementos de redução na arte brasileira,” with Waltércio Caldas, Dudi Maia Rosa, Eduardo Sued, Franz Weissmann and others. And in the same year Castro’s home town, Paraisópolis, opened the Amilcar de Castro Educational and Cultural Center.

Two years later, there was a magnificent retrospective organized by the Paço Imperial, Rio de Janeiro, curated by Paulo Sergio Duarte, in

49

which Castro’s works were exhibited in the interior of the historical palace and on the adjacent public square. Also in 1989 more of his work was shown at the 20th International São Paulo Biennial, where Castro presented three large “paintings” and a sculpture in iron.

In 1990, Castro stopped teaching for good and turned exclusively to artistic production, after two interesting educational initiatives failed due to lack of financial backing: the Núcleo Experimental Guignard (1980) and the Escola de Artes e Ofícios de Contagem (1983-1985).

The Nineties Long acclaimed as one of artists who were instrumental for the consolidation of modern Brazilian art, Amilcar de Castro has been experiencing a particularly fruitful phase in the last years of the 20th century. And for a good reason: he has returned to “painting” – that is, to making large color drawings on canvas or wood – and begun to try his hand at pottery.

Among the many group shows including Cas­ tro’s works in the first half of the decade, special mention should be made to the following: “Polaridades e perspectivas” (Paço das Artes, SP); “Brazilian Contemporary Art” (Par­q ue Lage, Galerias Sérgio Milliet and Rodrigo de Melo Franco/Funarte/RJ) and “Coca-Co­la: 50 anos com arte” (MAM/RJ and MAM/SP), all of them in 1992; in the following year, “Quatro X Minas” ( MAM/RJ , MASP , MAM/BA and Pa­ lácio das Artes/Belo Hori­zon­te), “Aspec­tos da gravura brasileira” (Bol­­­sa de Valores/RJ), “A cerâmica na arte contemporânea brasilei­ra” (BNDES/RJ) and “Poética” (Gabinete de Arte Raquel Ar­naud, São Paulo); “Brasil: 100 anos de arte mo­derna – Coleção Sérgio Fadel” (Ga­ leria do Século XX, MNBA/RJ, 1993-4); Bienal Brasil Século XX, an important circulating show seen in six Brazilian cities and also in Tokyo, after opening at the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, in 1994; “Precisão” (Centro

50

Cultural Ban­co do Brasil, RJ, 1994); “Morandi no Bra­sil” (Centro Cul­tural São Paulo), “De­ safios con­temporâneos” (P.A. Objetos de Ar­te, RJ) and “Entre o desenho e a escultura” (MAM/ SP), in 1995.

successfully exhibited at the 2nd International São Paulo Biennial 33 years earlier (1953). By coincidence, the piece was installed near the building where the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiti­ cica was to begin to function later.

In the later Nineties the following group shows stand out: in 1996, Galeria Elms Lesters Painting Rooms (London), “Esculturas urbanas” (Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud, São Paulo), “Quatro mestres escultores brasileiros contemporâneos” (Palácio Itamaraty, Brasília) and “Deux artistes brésiliens” (Galerie Debret, Paris); in 1997 the artist took part at the exhibition “Consolidação da moder­ni­dade em Belo Horizonte” (Projeto um Século de História das Artes Plásticas em Belo Hori­zonte, Museu da Pampulha); and in 1998 his works were presented at “Harmonia de contrastes” (Kolams Galeria de Arte, Belo Horizonte), “Tridimen­ sio­nalidade na arte brasileira do século XX” (Instituto Cul­tural Itaú, São Paulo) and “Arte construtiva no Brasil: Coleção Adolpho Leirner” (MAM/RJ and MAM/SP, 1998).

In 1997 he received a number of honors: as one of the most active and creative Brazilian artists, at the first edition of the Johnnie Walker Award, Castro won the First Prize. In the same year he exhibited at the First Mercosur Biennial, in Porto Alegre, and for the first time was the subject of a book: Amilcar de Castro, with texts by Ronaldo Brito and Rodrigo Naves, published by Cosac & Naify Edições. In 1998 he was honored once again with a special room at the 16th National Art Salon, and also participated in the Fourth Londrina Art Week.

As to one-man shows, in addition to the welldeserved 1992 “Retrospective” at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo and the exhibition at the Museu Victor Meirelles (Florianópolis, 1996), many galleries opened their doors for the master: Fernando Pedro Escritório de Arte and Es­ paço Cultural CEMIG (Belo Horizonte, 1991), Manoel Macedo Galeria de Arte (1992, Belo Horizonte), Gabinete de Arte Raquel Arnaud (São Paulo, 1992/1994/1998), Galeria de Arte da Universidade Federal Fluminense (Niterói, RJ, 1993), P.A. Objetos de Arte (Rio de Janeiro, 1994/1996/1998), plus an exhibition of drawings in Buenos Aires (Galeria Portinari) – “Un exponente del concretismo brasileño” – in 1996.

In 1995 Castro received Funarte’s National Art Award. In the following year he was invited by Rio’s Municipal Secretariat of Culture to place one of his works in the city’s historic center; he selected the famous sculpture that had been

Also in 1998, the tireless Amilcar de Castro worked on a monumental Cor-Ten steel sculpture weighing 24 metric tons and measuring eight meters across, for a neighborhood in the old East Berlin, Hellersdorf. Castro’s work was included with the equally monumental pieces

by Frans Krajcberg (wood), Siron Franco (concrete) and Miguel dos Santos (ceramic) in the winning urban-renewal project presented by the Brazilian architects Marcelo Ferraz and Fran­cis­co Fa­nucci, in 1997. The work was formally inaugurated this year.

In 1999, Amilcar de Castro, at the age of 79 and still full of energy, is holding no less than five exhibitions – one group show and four solos: “Quatro décadas de desenho mineiro” (Ga­ leria do Espaço Cultural Telemar, Belo Hori­ zonte, MG), Kolams Galeria de Arte (Belo Ho­ ri­zonte, MG), Espaço Universitário da Univer­ sidade do Espírito Santo in Vitória, Museu de Arte Moderna Aloísio Magalhães (Recife) and, to close the millennium, a spectacular exhibition of new works at the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica and nearby Praça Tiradentes, Rio de Janeiro.

Amilcar de Castro com a maquete da escultura instalada em Berlim, 1998 Amilcar de Castro with scale model of sculpture installed in Berlin, 1998

Acknowledgments Alberto Tassinari, Amilcar de Castro, Car­ los R. M. Levy, Charles Watson, Fran­cisco Fa­nucci, Glória Ferreira, Marcelo Fer­raz, Pau­lo Coelho, Raquel Arnaud, Ro­d rigo Na­ves, Ronaldo Brito, Sérgio Sister, Silvia Cintra, Sula Danowski, Vanda Klabin, Vi­ viane Matesco.

The Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica proudly and joyfully presents to the Rio de Janeiro public the vital artistry of Amilcar de Castro in a selection of recent works, some of them never shown before, made especially for this occasion.

Here are the large canvases and the sculptures in Cor-Ten steel that proclaim Cas­tro’s mastery of folds and cuts, in an exhibition that is not contained by the walls of the Cen­tro’s building but spills over into nearby Praça Tiradentes, expressing, together with other large-scale sculptures, the urban and monumental character of his work.

Prompted by a sensibility developed after a decade working for the advancement of Rio’s cultural life, the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil has decided to join the City Government of Rio de Janeiro in sponsoring this exhibition.

Together, the two institutions pay tribute to an artist whose career is exemplary in the history of Brazilian art in the latter half of our century, an artist whose tireless research into materials and the limits of form point ahead to the twenty-first century.

Helena Severo Municipal Secretary of Culture of Rio de Janeiro

Dialogue and partnership

Presentation

“A work of art not only occupies a place in objective space but also transcends it, by establishing a meaning in it,” stated the Neoconcrete Manifesto published in Jornal do Brasil on March 22, 1959; it was signed by Amilcar de Castro, Ferreira Gullar, Lygia Clark, Lygia Pape and Reinaldo Jardim, among others. It was also in 1959 that the new graphic design of the Jornal do Brasil, created by Amilcar de Castro, was effectively implemented: now the blocks of printed text dialogued, as it were, with the blank spaces, making for a more reader-friendly, breathable page. The visual communication designer had “established a meaning” in the newspaper, in the terms of the manifesto he had signed. Amilcar de Castro, a multiple artist – sculptor, draftsman, engraver, painter – has always been consistent with his basic principles.

Throughout the last four decades, his work has never deviated from his original trajectory: his art has always been in permanent balance and dialogue with external space. Concise, austere, contained, this dialogue is marked by the mountain solitude of Castro’s native Minas Gerais. “One must try dialogue when solitude hardens into a vice,” wrote the poet Carlos Dru­ mmond de Andrade, a fellow Mineiro. Castro, who has mastered the technique of cutting and folding iron, knows how to make a piece seem to monologue as it hunches over itself, in a constant questioning movement. This tension is the source of his work’s intriguing beauty.

Long absent from the major Rio art showcases, Amilcar de Castro, as he turns 80, has become a landmark in late-twentieth-century Brazilian art. As we enter our tenth year of active participation in Rio’s artistic life, we are greatly pleased to be able to share with the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica the honor to present to the public the most recent works by one of the greatest living Brazilian artists.

The Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica is proud to pay a well-deserved tribute to Amilcar de Cas­ tro, an extraordinary artist from Minas Gerais whose work occupies a prominent and groundbreaking position in the history of modern Brazilian sculpture. This is not a retrospective nor a summary of Castro’s past achievement, but a show of recent pieces, made with the present exhibition in mind.

Given the limits of size and weight imposed by the physical characteristics of the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica, a major set of large-scale sculptures meant for public spaces will be displayed near the Centro’s building, on Praça Tiradentes. The sculpture exhibited at the 1953 São Paulo Biennial will also be shown, on an enlarged scale, placed around the corner from the Centro, as part of the Mu­ nicipal Secretariat of Culture’s urban sculpture project, which is in this way integrated with the exhibition.

The son of a prominent district attorney and judge, Amilcar de Castro graduated in law, but during his college years he was already studying drawing and painting under Guignard and sculpture under Franz Weissmann, in Belo Horizonte. Guignard’s lessons were particularly important for him: required to draw with a hard pencil that left a permanent mark on the paper, so that erasing was not possible and the precision of the line was heightened, he decided to concentrate on sculpture when he “realized that the lines could be three-dimensional.” His artistic career was intensified in the Fifties, influenced first by Max Bill and then by his contacts with Concretists and Neo­ concretists. He signed the Neoconcrete Mani­ fes­to and became an exponent of the movement, founded on the principles of constructivism.

The poetic strength of his work and the solidification of his personal idiom in a career spanning over fifty years are expressed through experimentation with the most varied materi-

Walter Nunes de Vasconcelos Jr. Director, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

als and different techniques and procedures, including sculpture, drawing, printmaking and graphic arts – he was responsible for the wellknown innovative revision of the graphic design of the Rio daily Jornal do Brasil. But CorTen steel has always been his favorite material for sculpture, in which he is constantly engaging in a dialogue with his constructivist roots and announcing new possibilities for geometric thought and for art as an activity of social construction. Amilcar de Castro’s work adopts this modern universality and expresses human action invested with philosophical substance.

His sculptures, in the words of the critic Mário Pedrosa, “are an invitation to meditation.”

I would like to give effusive thanks to Amilcar de Castro for this splendid opportunity to offer the public a representative sample of his most recent works, created especially for this exhibition; to Ronaldo Brito, who curated the show and wrote a fine critical analysis of the works, for his careful selection of the pieces; and to Sula Danowski and her efficient team, who edited this catalog. In particular, I want to thank the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil for widening the scope of its traditional support to cultural production by starting an important institutional partnership with the Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica. Many people have helped in different ways in the organization of this show. I would like to give special thanks to Augusto Ivan de Freitas Pinheiro, Márcio Teixeira, Silvia Cintra, Thaís Helft, Allen Roscoe da Cunha and Paulo Coelho.

Vanda Mangia Klabin General Director, Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

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Legendas / Captions

p. 4 maquetes, 1999 aço Cor-Ten

p. 21 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 180 x 168 x 88cm

p. 34 desenho, 1999 tinta acrílica sobre tela 200 x 360cm

pp. 22-23 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 153 x 205 x 185cm

p. 35 desenho, 1999 tinta acrílica sobre tela 210 x 420cm

pp. 24-25 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 168 x 162 x 130cm

p. 36 desenho, 1999 tinta acrílica sobre tela 160 x 320cm

p. 13 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 176 x 210 x 160cm

p. 27 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 1/2”) 90 x ø 240cm

pp. 42-43 Amilcar de Castro em seu ateliê, Nova Lima, Belo Horizonte, 1999

p. 17 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 150 x 262 x 109cm

pp. 28-29 seqüência do processo de dobra da escultura, 1999 equipe: Allen Roscoe da Cunha, Alexandre Magno de Jesus e Edmilson Vieira de Andrade Ateliê Nova Lima, Belo Horizonte

p. 8 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 145 x 328 x 90cm p. 12 desenho para a elaboração de escultura, 1999 lápis s/ papel 70 x 100cm

p. 18 esculturas, 1999 em primeiro plano aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 54 x 145 x 173cm em segundo plano aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 150 x 262 x 109cm p. 19 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 5/16”) 158 x 205 x 48cm

p. 30 escultura, 1999 aço Cor-Ten (chapa 2”) 240 x 288cm p. 31 maquete e desenho de elaboração, 1999 p. 33 desenho, 1999 tinta acrílica sobre tela 160 x 200cm

p. 44 desenho, 1999 tinta acrílica s/tela 160 x 200cm

Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica

Catálogo / Catalogue

Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil

Direção geral / Direction general Vanda Mangia Klabin

Edição / Edition Ronaldo Brito, Vanda Mangia Klabin e Sula Danowski

Agradecimentos / Acknowledgments

Assessoria / Direction assistants Fabiana Werneck Noemia Buarque de Hollanda Administração / Management Dora Nadja Pereira da Silva

Exposição / Exhibition Curadoria / Curatorship Ronaldo Brito Montagem / Installation Allen Roscoe da Cunha Paulo Coelho Skill Produções – Alexandre Figueiredo Produção executiva / Executive production Skill Produções Paulo Guaranho e Renato Amaral Assessoria de imprensa / Press consultant Basi – Bureau de Assessoria de Imprensa Transporte e Seguro / Transportation and Insurance Caravelas Guindastes e Transportes Ltda JMF Seguros

Cronologia / Chronology Christina Bach Projeto gráfico / Graphic design Danowski Design Ltda Sula Danowski, Adriana Cataldo e Livia Lazzaro danowski@alternex.com.br Fotos / Photos Arquivo Amilcar de Castro p. 50 Cássio Vasconcellos p. 10 Eduard Krajewski p. 41 Eduardo Eckenfels pp. 4, 8, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24-25, 27, 28-29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 39(b), 42-43, 44, 46 e capa Elizabeth Jobim p. 39(a) Rômulo Fialdini pp. 11 e 14 Vanda Mangia Klabin p. 22 Tradução / Translation Paulo Henriques Britto Revisão de texto / Proofreading Rosalina Gouveia Fotolito / Films Dressa Color, Rio de Janeiro Impressão / Printing Editora Gráficos Burti Ltda, São Paulo

Patrocínio / Sponsorship

Centro de Arte Hélio Oiticica Rua Luís de Camões 68, Centro 20060-040 Rio de Janeiro RJ Brasil tels (+21) 242-1012/242-1213 fax (+21) 232-1401

Alexei Bueno – Instituto Estadual de Patrimônio Cultural Allen Roscoe da Cunha André Zambelli – Corredor Cultural Antônio Corrêa – Subprefeitura do Centro Augusto Ivan de Freitas Pinheiro – Subprefeito do Centro Cesar Barreto Charles Watson Francisco Valdemir dos Santos – Secretaria Municipal de Obras e Serviços Públicos Geomax Equipamentos Ltda.

Henrique Jaymovich João Marcos Mendes de Souza Luiz Augusto de Pinho – IPHAN Márcia Lacerda de Saules – Rio Luz Márcio Teixeira Modesto Rodrigues Fernandes Filho – CET-Rio Olga Bronstein – Região Administrativa do Centro Paulo Coelho Cel. Paulo Cesar Amendola de Souza – Superintendente executivo da Guarda Municipal Paulo Eduardo Klabin Sílvia Cintra Thaís Helft Vicente Cantini – Fundação Parques e Jardins

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ISBN 85-86675-08-3

9 788586 675089

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