Tropicalia revisited.

• Position: Exhibition of Tropicalia pioneer Helio Oiticica's works

The works of Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica will be on exhibit at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, beginning October 24, 1993. Curated by Guy Brett and Catherine David, this comprehensive exhibition covers twenty-five years of the artist's prolific career. One of the pioneer's of the Tropicalismo movement of the 1960s, Oiticica eventually exiled himself in New York during the 1970s. He returned to Brazil in 1978 and lived there until his death two years later at age forty-three. The Walker presentation is the premiere in the United States of a complex body of work which has remained little-known in Europe and the U.S. Musician Tom Ze is scheduled to perform at the opening.

Oiticica's works have been divided into three periods which are traced chronologically in this show. The first phase features works from the mid-to-late 1950s, with brilliantly colored paintings and geometric sculptures incorporating elements of European Constructivism and De Stijl. In the 1960s the artist adopted a different approach, creating works which brought together common objects such as glass jars and plastic bottles combined with earth or cloth and sometimes incorporating texts. During this period, Oiticica joined a samba school in one of the favelas of Rio and became a samba...