Krajcberg and Oiticica: Precursores of Art in the Landscape in Brasil

Abstract

Examining similarities between Frans Krajcberg and Hélio Oiticica artworks could be, at first glance, unusual. This approach, however, permit us to find out that some of their artworks are strictly engaged with landscape production and identity representation issues. Both artists, since de 1960´s, begin to work in landscapes which were, by that time, put aside from the art context and discussions: landscapes of burnedover lands, deforestation and the favela´s, opening frontiers to make us consider carefully, through art, a Brazil besides the tropical. Reflecting the singularities of their processes, these artists share the fact that they have participated in the expanded field of the brazilian art as they appropriated from daily objects and non-traditional materials and, especially, they assumed political positions that were revealed in their artworks. This art expansion, that enclose daily life with its objects and social interaction reaching political dimension resulted, for these artists, in interfering directly with the landscape. They also share the way of working and conceiving their artworks starting from the senses and forms of the landscape, using its natural and cultural aspects as well as considering the proper “way of seeing” that is in the landscape´s origin. Especially, expressive parcels of their artworks - in distinct languages - intensely manifest their experiences of life within the landscape.