Bicho desfolhado (Husked Creature)

Lygia Clark

Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1920 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1988
  • Series: 
    Bichos (Creatures)
  • Date: 
    1960 / Production of 1973
  • Material: 
    Aluminium sheet and hinge
  • Technique: 
    Assemblage
  • Dimensions: 
    46,5 x 62 x 58 cm
  • Category: 
    Sculpture
  • Entry date: 
    2009
  • Register number: 
    AD05211

From 1958 onwards, Lygia Clark directed her work towards the exploration of unexpected invented spaces, paving the way for her radical investigations in the 1960s, in which spectators confronted their own physical and psychic reality, and the artistic object took on a sense of ritual. In 1959, the artist signed the Brazilian Grupo Neoconcreto manifesto, and shortly afterwards started work on her first major contribution to art interactivity, the series known as Bichos (Creatures), which was presented at the 6th São Paulo Biennial in 1961. The works were simple structures made from metal plates joined by hinges that formed “a spine, allowing it to be articulated”. Bicho desfolhado (Husked Creature), made in aluminium sheet, is one of the largest in the series. Clark highlighted how the organic nature of a work of this kind was not connected to the shape (as the piece is a specific geometric concept) but rather to the way it is presented as a living, active organism, which the spectator can interact with completely. The work reflects the evolution of Neo-Concrete art from its self-absorbed beginnings to its social, participative aspect in the 1970s.

Carmen Fernández Aparicio

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