NEW YORK, NY.- Nara Roesler announced that Antonio Dias’s The Illustration of Art/The Body (1974) has been acquired by Art Institute of Chicago – for its permanent collection.
Discover the impactful 50-year career of Brazilian artist Antonio Dias. This comprehensive hardcover volume, filled with over 400 images, is a vital introduction to his versatile work. Get your copy of "Antonio Dias" on Amazon today.
Antonio Dias was one of the leading figures in 20th century Brazilian art, achieving international recognition during the mid-1960s. His early works were politically-infused drawings, paintings and assemblages permeated by elements from Brazilian New Figuration and Pop Art.
A key moment in Dias carreer was The Illustration of Art series (1971-1978), first conceived during a pivotal residency in New York granted by a Guggenheim Fellowship. This series explored diverse themes like astronomy, minimalism, and the pursuit of a 'pure art of ideas' within an increasingly institutionalized art world. Dias critically reflected on art's autonomy, arguing for its relative nature and its inherent connection to society and history. The Illustration of Art also addressed politics and media, notably the Watergate scandal. The series included paintings incorporating text and performances. One of the shapes reiterated during the development of The Illustration of Art is that of the rectangle, incomplete for lacking one of its parts: a square.
Antonio Dias (b. 1944, Campina Grande, Brazil - d. 2018, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) began his career in the 1960s, producing works marked by political criticism in the form of paintings, drawings and assemblages typical of Brazilian Pop Art and Neo Figurativism, of which he was one the main representatives. His practice is interwoven by the legacy of the Neo-concrete movement and an early awareness of the revolutionary impetus of Tropicalia. In 1966, during his self-exile in Paris after subtle criticism from the Brazilian military dictators, the artist came into contact with artists of the Italian avant-garde movement Arte Povera, namely Luciano Fabro and Giulio Paolini. In the European context, he increasingly turns to abstraction, transforming his style.
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