Hélio Oiticica is one of the most important Brazilian artists of his generation. Profoundly interested in color and space, he invented in 1960 his series of Penetrables, chromatic and dynamic environments meant to be experienced by the viewer who penetrates them. After moving to a favela (shantytown) in Rio de Janeiro in 1964, where he became a lead samba dancer, Oiticica made ephemeral three-dimensional installations based on the housing of those communities. These architecturally scaled structures are intended to be traversed bodily and experienced by all the senses. Ilona Katzew, 2008
