Fortes Vilaça is pleased to present Oceano branco [White ocean] by Carlos Bevilacqua. The exhibition introduces a new material into the artist’s vocabulary – glycerin. The sculptures are thereby structured in the use of three forces made visible by the liquid medium: gravity, floatation and tension. The perception of the states of depth, surface and height are also a key factor for the appreciation of these works.

Oceano branco brings a contemplative state of spirit. It is also a metaphor of the imaginary realm, a place where form is measured by subjective dimensions. Eight sculptures are presented on a completely open shelf thus emphasizing the transparence of the artworks and the narratives that are developed among them. The ocean mentioned in the show’s title is revealed in sculptures filled with white dolomite (bottom) and glycerin (surface).

Quarenta Dias [Forty Days] and Oitenta Dias [Eighty Days] are aquariums in which a hollow glass sphere floats, anchored by lead weights and fishing lines. The spheres, with sand and a small lead ball, suggest the image of an ocular globe. The optical effects of the curved glass and the liquid create enlargements and reductions of the image. A single element can be seen in different sizes, evidencing the ambiguity of our perception.

Sonhos [Dreams] are works contained in glass jars where the artist constructs narratives discussing the relation between the unconscious and the conscious in the construction of the idea of reality. The elements are distributed along the bottom (buried in the sand), at the surface or in the liquid medium and at the top of the jar. The lines that connect the elements are bearers of tension, conductors of sensations.

Aurora is a glass bell jar with a hole at its top, which serves as the cradle for a solid crystal sphere. The bell jar is empty, except for some yellow dust, left over from the material used in the Sonhos. The sculpture that appears three times on the shelf suggests a movement toward the outside and creates a link with the only work that is outside the shelf. Toca da Serpente [Serpent’s Lair] is a wooden box with glass spheres, one inside  the other and buried in white sand; the spheres are aligned by a beam of light that illuminates them.

Carlos Bevilacqua was born in 1965 in Rio de Janeiro, where he lives and works. The artist was trained at the New York Studio of Painting, where he held one of his first solo shows, among which we can highlight the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (2000) and the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (1992). Bevilacqua has also participated in various group exhibitions, including Desejo da forma, Akademie der Künste, Berlin (2010), and Um Mundo sem Molduras, MAC USP, São Paulo. His works figure in important collections, such as: of Inhotim, Brumadinho; MAM-Rio de Janeiro; and MAC USP São Paulo.