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Sérgio Camargo, Lygia Clark, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Eugenio Dittborn, Jac Leirner, Cildo Meireles, Hélio Oiticica, Alejandro Otero, Lygia Pape, Mira Schendel, Jesús Rafael Soto and Regina Vater
‘Angel with a Gun: Homage to Guy Brett’ presents rarely seen works from the private collection of legendary and pioneering British critic, curator and writer Guy Brett (1942-2021).
A distinctive voice in art criticism since the 1960s, Brett followed an independent path, mapping and interpreting contemporary art. Through his collection, we encounter Brett’s constant curiosity and insight accompanied by complete disinterest in a market-led view.
Focusing on Brett’s discovery of, and passion for Latin American art, this exhibition showcases the work of 12 artists from Brazil, Chile and Venezuela whom he invited to Europe for the first time. Their future international reputations are owed in part to Brett’s rigorous lifelong advocacy.
In 2004, the art historian Yve-Alain Bois wrote a preface entitled ‘Angel with a Gun’ for a book of selected writings by his lifelong friend. Bois referred to the essay ‘Being Drawn to an Image’ in which Brett described how he came across the iconography of angels with guns, a genre unique to Latin America. Brett viewed the role of these angels as intermediaries between the human and mystic worlds, as vehicles of dreams.
Brett became interested in developments in Brazilian modernism after his first visit to São Paulo in 1965, aged just 22-years-old. Throughout his life, he focused on discovering artists who were excluded from Eurocentric art historical chronologies. While the British art world at the time cast their gaze towards white male American Pop art and Abstract Expressionism, Brett turned his attention elsewhere, to new regions and experimental art movements. In a characteristically trailblazing manner, he was one of the earliest champions of pioneering women artists.
In 1964, Brett co-published the Signals Newsbulletin and became integral to Signals, an experimental new gallery that functioned as a meeting place for international artists. Through Signals, the work of Sérgio Camargo, Lygia Clark and Hélio Oiticica, amongst others, was introduced to London. Signals provided a platform for contemporary works as yet unknown to the mainstream art world, representing a significant departure from established galleries.
Brett’s groundbreaking 1990 exhibition, ‘Transcontinental: An Investigation of Reality, Nine Latin American Artists’, introduced the work of Cildo Meireles, Regina Vater, Eugenio Dittborn and Jac Leirner to the UK. Brett described ‘Transcontinental’ as encompassing the relationship and tension between ‘the abstract/void and the contingent, localised, historical, urgent and conflicted’. This exhibition reflects Brett’s eye and continues to explore his thinking.
‘Angel with a Gun: Homage to Guy Brett’ would not have been possible without the commitment and passion of Alexandra Brett. We are immensely grateful for this unique, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to present Brett’s deeply historical and significant collection.
Above all, we are indebted to Guy Brett. A true innovator who pushed boundaries, he not only made his own indelible mark on our world but in doing so, changed the course of us, others and art history.
Works
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Sergio Camargo, Untitled, 1963-64 -
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Sergio Camargo, Relief No.8, 1964 -
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Sergio Camargo, Untitled, 1979 -
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Lygia Clark, Unidade no.6 (Unit no.6), 1958 -
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Lygia Clark, Bicho (Monument in all situations), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos (Preto) / Matchbox Structure (Black), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Estrutura do Acrobata (Preto e Branco) / Acrobat Stucture (Black and White), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos (Preto e Branco) / Matchbox Structure (Black and White), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos (Vermelho) / Matchbox Structure (Red), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos (Dourado) / Matchbox Structure (Gold), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Estruturas de Caixa de Fósforos (Branco) / Matchbox Structure (White), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Obra Mole (Soft Work), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Trepante (Climber), 1964 -
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Lygia Clark, Livro obra (Book work), 1964/1983 -
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Lygia Clark, Bicho de Bolso (Pocket Bicho), 1966 -
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Lygia Clark, Maquete para Livro Sensorial (Maquette for Sensorial Book), 1966 -
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Lygia Clark & Hélio Oititica, Diálogo de Mãos (Dialogue of Hands), 1966 -
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Lygia Clark, Diálogo de Mãos (Dialogue of Hands), 1966 -
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Lygia Clark, Máscara Sensorial (Sensorial Mask), 1966 -
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Lygia Clark, Diálogo: Óculos (Dialogue: Goggles), 1968 -
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Lygia Clark, Óculos (Goggles), 1968 -
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Carlos Cruz-Diez, Physichromie 127 (Plates 58 A-C), 1964 -
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Eugenio Dittborn, AIRMAIL PAINTING, no. 48 – ‘9 SURVIVORS’, 1986 -
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Jac Leirner, The One Hundreds (Signatures), 1987 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Cruzeiro, 1978 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Cruzeiro, 1978 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Dollar, 1984 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Dollar, 2013 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Real, 2013 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Real, 2013 -
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Cildo Meireles, Zero Dollar, 2013 -
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Hélio Oiticica, B 30 Box Bólide 17 (Poem Box), 1965-1966 -
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Hélio Oiticica, P11 Parangolé Cape 7 “Sexo e violencia eis o que me agrado (Sex and violence that’s what I like)”, 1966 -
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Hélio Oiticica, Seja marginal seja herói (Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero), 1968 -
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Alejandro Otero, Tout pres de la verticale No. 38 (Almost Vertical No. 38), 1963 -
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Lygia Pape, Livro da Arquitectura (Book of Architecture), 1959-1960 -
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Mira Schendel, Untitled, from the series Monotypes, 1964 -
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Jesús Rafael Soto, Vibration, 1965
Installation
