Geraldo de Barros's Geometric Sculptures and Photographic Voids at SESC Vila Mariana

SESC Vila Mariana in São Paulo presents two series by Brazilian artist Geraldo de Barros (1923–1998). The exhibition features 55 geometric sculptural forms from his Jogos de Dados (Games of Dice, 1980s), created after strokes impaired his speech. These Formica pieces, including the central hexagon Pai de Todos (Father of Them All), explore mathematical precision through black, white, and grey planes. De Barros, a founder of furniture companies Unilabor and Hobjeto, began his career as a painter before turning to photography in 1946. His abstract Fotoformas series, made with a Rolleiflex 6×6 camera and manipulated negatives, led to a 1950 exhibition at Museu de Arte de São Paulo and a scholarship in France and Germany. After decades in Brazil's Concretist movement, Pop art, and design, he returned to photography at age seventy-three with Sobras (Leftovers, 1996–98). This series comprises over 200 artworks from family snapshots and Fotoformas remnants, where de Barros sliced negatives to create voids and dystopian scenes, assisted by photographer Ana Moraes. The works are displayed as slides projected onto screens, with one showing the creation process. SESC, which owns several de Barros works, simultaneously published the book Geraldo de Barros: Isso, covering his entire career. The exhibition, reviewed in October 2013, highlights geometry's mystery and simplicity as central to his practice.