Lot 11: Sergio Camargo

Relief Rayonant No. 2/21 Signed, titled, inscribed and dated "Camargo Paris 1964 Relief Rayonant No. 2/21" on the reverse. This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity issued by Galeria Raquel Arnaud, numbered 11450.

19 1/4 x 19 7/8 x 9 1/4 in. (49 x 50.5 x 23.5 cm.)

painted wood

1964

Acquired directly from the artist Private Collection, Switzerland Private Collection, Europe

"Camargo…investigate[s]…the changing light of the everyday world with its incalculable complexity of nuance." Guy Brett Refined yet spirited, Sergio Camargo’s remarkable Relief Rayonnant is an elegant exploration of sculptural form and painterly abstraction inspired by the Constructivist movement. Challenging and transforming both the practice of his minimalist mentors Constantin Brancusi, Lucio Fontana and Yves Klein, as well as that of his peers working in the Neoconcrete tradition, Camargo reimagined concepts of volume and material objectivity, reinvigorating an artistic dialogue concerned with light, volume, and sculpture itself. An enigmatic synthesis of these stylistic and spatial concerns, Relief Rayonnant is a luminous and important example of Camargo’s collaborative intimacy with concept, subject, and a new modernity. Composed of variegated cylindrical elements pulsating from a dense and organic core, Relief Rayonant is a fascinating departure from Camargo’s monochrome reliefs. Here, an irregular, amorphous yet monochrome structure swells from the artist’s chosen plinth – a simple unpainted wooden plank – resulting in a visceral composition that transcends the boundaries of painting and sculpture. Curved, cylindrical surfaces combine in geometric though vigorous form – atomic elements comprising the organic whole. “The subtle restlessness of regularity absorbs us, but at times elements are also disorderly grouped – agglomerated, convulsed, dramatic, agony of space – and long to escape from the surface, expelled from plane and beyond the place.” (P. Filho, “clear enigma,” in Sergio Camargo: claro enigma, exhibition catalogue, Instituto de Arte Contemporânea, São Paulo, pp. 72-73) Created soon after the completion of his first white relief, Relief Rayonant is a monument to Camargo’s mastery and extension of the geometric form as organic element. Drawing upon the cubist compositions of Pablo Picasso, Camargo rejected representation and instead interpreted these geometric shapes through the lens of abstraction. Enhanced and purified in monochromatic, bright white, the artist referenced Fontana and Klein in both palette and practice, balancing the minimalist reduction of form with a concern for the interplay of light and shadow. Sharing Camargo’s interest in three-dimensional abstraction and the rhythmic conversation developed by the interaction of these elements, contemporary Jesús Rafael Soto’s Escritura extends the legacy of these monochromatic minimalists. Camargo, building on Soto’s conceptual interplay, presents a seemingly spontaneous, yet harmonious composition produced from the geometric regularity of individual forms. The nuanced dynamism evoked from the lyrical Relief Rayonant is the sum of these multiplicities. The implied depth and movement articulated by Camargo’s form and its void, the antagonism of sculpture and surface, combine in a complex reflection of mass, volume and light that extend beyond the pictorial plane in the realization of a subtle yet profound artistic presence.