In videos, paintings and sculptures, Rodrigo Cass’s work explores questions concerning containment and rupture, making references to philosophy and Brazilian art. His videos evince an interest in elements of performance, in economic settings in which the color appears as a constructive element. The narrative is substituted by the repetition of determined gestures in interaction with materials, which despite being ordinary always bear a strong symbolic charge.

Gravitating between the concepts of light, opacity and transparency, Rodrigo Cass presents in the exhibition three videos to which he gives a material presence by projecting them onto an acrylic object covered with linen. In Libera Abstrahere, the artist pours metallic powder into an old paint can resting on a pile of books. The shiny powder fills the entire space of the can and scatters around it. When the can is taken away, the empty circle on the books marks its absence – which in a sense mirrors it – pointing to a frequent theme in his work: the idea of the containing.

This concept is also present in Material Abstrahere, in which empty paper bags give way under the weight of books or through the accumulation of potatoes. In Manifeste Abstrahere different books are placed on top of colorful fabrics in front of a yellow background. The action consists in removing the fabric from under the books with a quick and precise gesture. This gesture, as a stroke on a canvas, subtly rearranges the position of the books, drawing our attention to the pictorial composition of the work.

Rodrigo Cass was born in São Paulo, in 1983, where he lives and works. His recent exhibitions notably include a solo show at Centro Cultural São Paulo em 2013, as well as the group show Imagine Brazil (Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo, Norway, 2013, and at Musée d’Art Contemporain de Lyon, in Lyon, France, 2014), in addition to his participation in the Bolsa Pampulha 2010/2011 (Museu de Arte da Pampulha, Belo Horizonte).