Lygia Pape’s Magnetized Space is at the Serpentine until 19 February 2012
Pape was a fouding member of the “neo-concrete” movement. Does that mean she incorporated the cement mixer into her installations? Alas no. Neo-concretism was a short-lived movement exisited in Brazil from about 1959-1961. Pape was part of an artists’ group called the Rio group, who founded the idea of neo-concretism as a response to and rebellion against the concretism movement. Did the concretism movement involve cement mixers then, or indeed any kind of construction material? Well, not usually. The 1930 Manifesto of Concrete Art specified concretist work as abstract work taht was purely focused on form itself, free of any assocition wiht either reality or symobilism. Lines, colours and forms were “concrete evidence” on their own.
Here’s an example of a concretist screenprint peice:
So how exactly does this relate to Lygia Pape, neo-concretism, and this exhibition at the Serpentine. Well, as mentioned, neo-concretism was a reaction to concretism, and Pape’s Rio group sought to work more intuitively and freely, escaping the dogmatic rational constraints of concretistm. They were especially dedicated to the idea that art should be able to be included as a part of everyday life. Let’s have a look at Pape’s work to see what this meant in practice. Both photos below show Pape’s “Book of Time” an installation created between 1961 and 1963. The work certainly has a playful appeal, but still has the abstract, geometric, clean-cut feel of a concretist artwork.
Lygia Pape
Livro do Tempo (Book of Time) 1961-63
Installation view, Magnetized Space,
Serpentine Gallery, London
(7 December 2011 – 19 February 2012)
© 2011 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Lygia Pape
Livro do Tempo (Book of Time) 1961-63
Installation view, Magnetized Space,
Serpentine Gallery, London
(7 December 2011 – 19 February 2012)
© 2011 Jerry Hardman-Jones
Next up is Pape’s installation Tteia (Web), created recently in 2011. This is a visually beautiful piece where one can clearly appreciate the idea of forms existing for their own sake. At the same time, I can’t label this work as concretist, because the forms so clearly remind me of other things – sunlight filtering through clouds, or shafts of light piercing stained-glass windows for example. It is this, perhaps that illustrates a flaw in pure conrcretism – as much as we may be able to appreciate a form without justification or explanation, it is almost always because we automatically make a link with something else that the form reminds us of.
Lygia Pape
Tteia (Web) 2011
Installation view, Magnetized Space,
Serpentine Gallery, London
(7 December 2011 – 19 February 2012)
© 2011 Jerry Hardman-Jone
Lygia Pape
Tteia (Web) 2011
Installation view, Magnetized Space,
Serpentine Gallery, London
(7 December 2011 – 19 February 2012)
© 2011 Jerry Hardman-Jones
So neo-concretism doesn’t have to be dull and grey genre. It’s worth visiting the Serpentine before 19th February to appreciate in person the subtle beauty of Pape’s works.
Moma talk on the Concrete and Neo-Concrete Movements in Argentina, Brazil, and Venezuela:
http://www.moma.org/explore/multimedia/audios/11/178
