Webs of Freedom (Malhas da liberdade)

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Webs of Freedom (Malhas da liberdade)

Brazil, 1976-1998
Sculpture
Iron and glass
59 1/8 × 59 1/8 in. (150.2 × 150.2 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Cecilia Wong, Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Carlos and Rosa de la Cruz, and the Modern and Contemporary Art Council (AC1999.13.1.1-.7)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Webs of Freedom (Malhas da liberdade) was constructed by using the same linear element repeatedly....
Webs of Freedom (Malhas da liberdade) was constructed by using the same linear element repeatedly. In theory, this work could extend indefinitely across a single plane and continue to grow volumetrically. Separate elements hanging on the wall behind the metal grid represent its alphabet or building blocks. Despite its apparent order, the spiky angularity of the grid, with a rectangular sheet of glass trapped in its structure, has more disturbing connotations. Conceived at the height of Brazil's twenty-year dictatorship (1964-84), the work is an indictment of that regime and a statement about the nature of existence.

Ilona Katzew, 2008
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Bibliography

  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art.  New York: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
  • Zelevansky, Lynn, V. L. Hillings, M. Peternák, B. LaBelle, P. Frank, I. Katzenstein, A. Le Blanc.  Beyond Geometry: Experiments in Form, 1940s-70s.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2004.