(Rio de Janeiro 1948– lives and works in Rio de Janeiro)

Untitled (face). 1986.

Acrylic on cardboard on canvas.

69 × 52 cm.

WitH the confirmation of authenticity by Galeria Luisa Strina, Sao Paulo, 9 August 2011.

Provenance:
- Galeria Luisa Strina, Sao Paulo.
- Purchased from the above by the present owner, since then privatly owned Switzerland.

The Brazilian Cildo Meireles is one of the most famous Latin-American conceptual artists.
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1948, his father’s job at the Indian Protection Service took the family all over the country. His many reminiscences of the indigenous people of Brazil, present throughout his work, shows how formative those experiences were for the young Cildo.

In 1963 he began his studies at the District Federal Cultural Foundation in Brasilia. In 1967 he moved to Rio de Janeiro, where he completed his studies at the Escola Nacional de Belas Artes. Cildo Meireles started his career at a difficult time for artists, since, with the military coup of 1964, the wide-ranging censorship included the visual arts. As a politically engaged artist, however, Meireles consistently found ways to get around the restrictions.

His early works, of which the present painting from 1966 is an example, were deeply rooted in Expressionism. Powerful colours, dynamic brush strokes and a very immediate presentation of the subject are also characteristic of this painting. In the course of the 1960s he became acquainted with the Brazilian Neo-Concrete artists centred around Lygia Clark.

Despite all these influences, Cildo Meireles did not relinquish his fascination with the design of objects and their communication with art, and in 1968 he ceased to produce classical painting and turned to installation art.

After countless group and solo shows, in 1999 he was given the Prince Claus Award, and in 2008 the Velazquez Plastic Award. He participated in the Kassel documenta several times, was invited to the Venice Biennale, and is a frequent participant at the Sao Paulo Biennale.