Very few times do artists allow the viewer to be a part of the art, rather, they leave it to the viewer to define it in their own way. Helio Oiticica allows us to be more than viewers, rather, he allows us, as people, to be a part of the art. The whole exhibit has qualities of interactive art. The majority of the time, I see art and forget about it which wasn’t the case here. The whole exhibit, due to its interactive nature, creates a memorable atmosphere. This was an experience.
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Part of the reason why most of the exhibits are interactive is to show Helio’s passion towards his art by relating it to his “home” experience in Brazil or trying to make us a part of his art. That way, we feel like we are part of his and our own creation. NC1 small nucleus one is the perfect example of this. He makes the art pop out at you because it suspended in the air through strings. He wanted to create an atmosphere where, as opposed to regular paintings, the spectator has to fully rotate around the piece in order to see its full beauty. Furthermore, the mirror creates a multi-dimensional view of the piece. Within this piece of art, there’s infinite art due to the mirror effect. Every person who looks through that mirror, not only creates art for himself but is a partner in the creation of art with Helio himself.
One of the areas which Helio focused on was his experiences in Brazil. He wants his viewers to physically feel what he went through and fell what is going through his mind. He conveys this message through the making of Box Bolide which was a symbol for his friend, who was killed by police through rapid gunfire. He made this box in order to commemorate his tragic death. In the box, it says “here he is and here shall he remain”. This inscription emotionally attaches me to the tragedies that occurred to him and once again connects me to his pain.
In Tropicalia, he expresses the cliché that everything in Brazil is sand, exotic birds, happy music and paradise even though that wasn’t the case. When I noticed that the exhibit next to this one was “Life and Politics” my perspective changed. The order at which the different exhibits were placed a large role in understanding the overall theme that the different rooms were trying to convey. By placing these two exhibits back to back it shows reality vs dream in Helio’s life. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a conflict but could emerge in a beautiful way. This could represent how Helio was living a tragic reality but his art brought his dreams to life. The exhibit also had many bright colors which made me feel that even though his art could represent something tragic such as in the “Life and Politics” exhibit, there is still a sense of happiness and brightness in the art which offers multiple layers of interpretation which is seen well in his 3D art style.
By: Alon Bezalel
Discovering the brilliance of Helio Oiticia article further enhanced my understanding of Oiticia’s artwork by furthering my knowledge of his life and the situations that he went through in his life which essentially define who he was as an artist. He went to dive and save his art when a pipe broke in one of the galleries that he was showing his art in. This shows his sacrifice in his life which now makes sense when seeing some of his pieces. Most of his art is interactive to fell what he went through and maybe have the same self-sacrifice as him in our own lives or in certain moments when analyzing his art. Furthermore, to show his self-sacrifice towards his art and want to keep it alive he started selling drugs which shown in the article of “How to Understand Hélio Oiticica’s Journey From Art Visionary to Coke Dealer and Back Again”. This act, although noble from a survival of art point of view, shows that his past had an effect on him in a negative way. Although most of his art came from his past experiences and his past, the fact that he had to start drug dealing surprised and upsets me in so many ways when analyzing his art. In my blog, I mentioned how there was an integration of reality vs dream in his life. Although my view is the same of what his art displays towards his viewers, there is a part of me which thinks that his reality actually conflicted with his dream lifestyle rather than merging with one another. He was living a double life in order to survive and get a green card while living the U.S. Although I understand that he didn’t want to go back to Brazil due to its corrupt system, that doesn’t make it right to perform such legal actions. All in all, both articles deepened my understanding and my future view of who he was and how life stories in anyone’s life define who they are and will be.
When I first saw the exhibit, I didn’t realize the importance of the order of the collection. Your insight on that truly opened my eyes and now makes me reflect deeper on my experience of viewing the art. I can agree with you in that respect. Depending on what order you saw the exhibit, I still feel that it had the overall sense of creating a more personal connection to the work. Especially regarding politics, I think we all have a greater connection to the work since we all have first hand experience of political chaos. Nice insight!
I took notice of NC1 as well. When I saw the mirror, I was actually expecting to look through it and see a more composed piece. I thought it would be like an optical illusion. I was a little let down but regardless I thought the piece was interesting. It was very weirdly built and so it was cool to see an abstract sculpture rather than a painting. When people say theres a million ways to look at a painting, this was an actual physical representation of that. Every angle showed you something different. It would cool if there was a mirror over the sculpture also, in order to enhance that feature even more.
I agree with what you said about how when you usually see art you forget about it, but in this exhibit, you did not because of its interactive agenda. Your explanation of the NC1 small nucleus is extremely detailed and fascinating! It is interesting that you pointed out the layout of the exhibit, because I was thinking about that also, but could not exactly put it in to words. I think you perfectly explained it, “Reality vs Dream”. I was intrigued by the bright colors and geometric shapes as well, it enhanced the exhibit as a whole. Job well done!