Guto Lacaz (São Paulo SP 1948)
Multimedia artist, illustrator, designer, draftsman and set designer.
Carlos Augusto Martins Lacaz graduated in industrial electronics from the Liceu Eduardo Prado in 1970 and in architecture from the Faculdade de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São José dos Campos, São Paulo, in 1974. He was art editor of the magazines Around/AZ and Via Cinturato. From 1978 to 1984, he taught visual communication and architectural drawing at the Faculdade de Artes Plásticas of the Pontifícia Universidade Católica - PUC, in Campinas. In São Paulo, he taught at Colégio Iadê, in the architecture course at the Faculdade de Belas Artes and in the Artur Cole open course, from 1981 to 1984. He has staged performances such as Eletro-Performance, 1984; Estranha Descoberta Acidental [Strange Accidental Discovery], 1984; O Executivo Heavy Metal [The Heavy Metal Executive], 1987; and Espetáculo Máquinas II [Machines Show II], 1999, among others. In the 1990s, he illustrated the books Crescente: 1977-1990, by Duda Machado; Num Zoológico de Letras [In a Zoo of Letters], by Régis Bonvicino (1955); and O Balé dos Skazka's, by Kátia Canton. In 2005, he published the book Desculpe a Letra [Excuse My Handwriting], which brings together drawings made for journalist Joyce Pascowitch's column in the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.
Critical Commentary
Guto Lacaz's work moves between graphic design, creation with everyday objects and the exploration of technological possibilities in art, always treated with humor and irony, as can be seen in Crushfixo (1974), one of his first works, or in Fuscão Preto no Acapulco Drive-In [Black Beetle at the Acapulco Drive-In] (1981), in which, by means of a model, he associates a popular song with the avant-garde music of composer Arrigo Barnabé (1951).
Several of his works relate to the world of the media and consumption, such as Óleo Maria à Procura da Salada [Maria Oil in Search of the Salad] (1982), in which a can of oil moves across a tray equipped with radars, or Ono (1991), a work in tribute to the architect Walter Ono, created from a box of laundry detergent. Lacaz also makes large installations, such as Auditório para Questões Delicadas [Auditorium for Delicate Matters] (1989), an intervention in Ibirapuera Park, in São Paulo. In the middle of the park's lake, he installed sequences of chairs which, by means of hidden structures, seem to float on the water. In Cosmos (1991), described by the artist as a free interpretation of celestial mechanics, he arranges pedestals of different heights in a dark room, whose electric motors make small white spheres describe orbits that vary in direction, diameter and speed. Walking through the installation, the viewer feels as if walking among celestial bodies.
Guto Lacaz has also staged several performances, such as Espetáculo Máquinas II (1999) or Eletro Performance (1984), with the participation of actress Cristina Mutarelli (1957), architect Javier Borracha and the artist's brother Nenê Lacaz, among others.
Critiques
"The art of the 80s is tremendously aware of its recent past. The whole trajectory of modernism, from Cézanne to conceptual art, is a constant presence wherever we look. The (false) impression we have is that everything has already been done. Formal and conceptual readings have become simultaneous and indivisible. Form and content are one and the same. Everything has a neo-everything air. (...) Guto Lacaz is an artist of this time. And his work can (and should), I believe, be read as a commentary on the period. Shrewd and sharp, like the man himself. At once visual and conceptual. In his work, these two forces of art comment on, mock and complete each other. (...) The whole 'low-tech' atmosphere that pervades his works, whether constructions, illustrations or paintings (wires, nails, small electric 'gadgets', lighting tricks, light bulbs, batteries, records, etc.), has a very strong reason to exist. They comment visually on one of the most important themes of our time: the myth of progress (technological, computing, atomic). (...) Is there an avant-garde in the 80s? Or only a vain guard of the past? Is there real, social progress in the computer age? These and other questions, Guto Lacaz suggests, must be faced head-on, in a new and vigorous way, as if through a magic eye."
João Pedrosa
PEDROSA, João. Arguto e sagaz. Guia das Artes, São Paulo: Casa Editorial Paulista, v. 2, n. 7, p. 38-41, 1987.
"Guto Lacaz is, above all, a magician. Magician or mage? He deals with forms and, at the same time, forms deal with him. I know he is a creator of dreams. He has the terrible innocence of geniuses and of angels in rebellion against routine. In the Middle Ages he would have perplexed the doctors of the Sorbonne and would have managed to pass through the fires of the Inquisition inside his inventions. In Romanticism he would have been a man of the barricades or an inhabitant of supernatural realms. There is in him a curious symbiosis of mysticism and science. He handles the elements with the religiosity of an alchemist and the inquiring spirit of quantum mechanics. Sometimes he is the troubadour of the lost castle; at others, the boy who invents at the bottom of the garden a trap to catch clouds. Playfully, he takes life seriously. He knows we are pieces in a game of chess and offers a ring to the hand that plays with our destinies. This is my Guto Lacaz."
Paulo Bomfim
ARTE e artistas plásticos no Brasil 2000. Projeto editorial Ronaldo Graça Couto; posfácio Luiz Armando Bagolin; projeto gráfico Guto Lacaz. São Paulo: Meta, 2000, p. 102.
Solo Exhibitions
1982 - São Paulo SP - Ideias Modernas [Modern Ideas], at Galeria de Arte São Paulo
1986 - Fortaleza CE - Solo, at Arte Galeria
1987 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Subdistrito
1991 - São Paulo SP - Cosmos, at Masp (installation)
1991 - São Paulo SP - Papéis e Seus Nomes [Papers and Their Names], at Galeria Documenta
1991 - São Paulo SP - Videoselos [Video Stamps], at Itaú Cultural (installation)
1993 - Poços de Caldas MG - Ideias Modernas [Modern Ideas], at Casa de Cultura de Poços de Caldas
1993 - São Paulo SP - Solo, at Galeria Luisa Strina
1994 - Londrina PR - Cosmos: um passeio no infinito [Cosmos: A Walk in Infinity], at UEL
2003 - Belo Horizonte MG - Pequenas Grandes Ações [Small Great Actions], at Galeria Circo Bonfim
Group Exhibitions
1978 - São Paulo SP - 1ª Mostra do Móvel e do Objeto Inusitado [1st Show of Unusual Furniture and Objects], organized by Arte Aplicada, at Paço das Artes - award
1979 - New York (United States) - Contemporary Brazilian Works on Paper, at Nobé Gallery
1979 - São Paulo SP - Escultura Lúdica [Playful Sculpture], organized by Arte Aplicada, at Masp
1979 - São Paulo SP - O Desenho como Instrumento [Drawing as an Instrument], at Pinacoteca do Estado
1983 - São Paulo SP - Arte na Rua [Art in the Street], organized by MAC/USP and presented on billboards around the city
1985 - São Paulo SP - 18th São Paulo International Biennial, at Fundação Bienal
1985 - São Paulo SP - Arte e Tecnologia [Art and Technology], at MAC/USP
1986 - Buenos Aires (Argentina) - La Deuda Eterna [The Eternal Debt], at Centro de Cultura San Martín
1986 - Fortaleza CE - 1st International Exhibition of Ephemeral Sculptures, at Fundação Demócrito Rocha
1986 - Fortaleza CE - Imagine: o planeta saúda o cometa [Imagine: The Planet Greets the Comet], at Arte Galeria
1986 - São Paulo SP - A Nova Dimensão do Objeto [The New Dimension of the Object], at MAC/USP
1986 - São Paulo SP - Projeto Arte Brasileira [Brazilian Art Project]
1986 - São Paulo SP - Virada do Século [Turn of the Century], at Pinacoteca do Estado
1987 - Paris (France) - Modernidade: arte brasileira do século XX [Modernity: 20th-Century Brazilian Art], at Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris
1987 - São Paulo SP - A Trama do Gosto: um outro olhar sobre o cotidiano [The Fabric of Taste: Another Look at Everyday Life], at Fundação Bienal
1988 - Campinas SP - 13th Campinas Contemporary Art Salon, at MACC
1988 - Long Island (United States) - Brazil Projects, at The Institute for Art and Urban Resources, Inc.
1988 - New York (United States) - Brazil Designs, at Art Director's Club of New York
1988 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Le Déjeuner sur l'Art: Manet no Brasil [Le Déjeuner sur l'Art: Manet in Brazil], at EAV/Parque Lage
1988 - São Paulo SP - 19th Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1988 - São Paulo SP - Juréia, at Sadalla Galeria de Arte
1988 - São Paulo SP - Modernidade: arte brasileira do século XX [Modernity: 20th-Century Brazilian Art], at MAM/SP
1988 - Toronto (Canada) - The Water Works Project, Visual Arts Ontario/R. C. Harris Water Filtration Plant
1989 - São Paulo SP - Itaca, at Kramer Galeria de Arte
1991 - Caracas (Venezuela) - Brasil: la nueva generación [Brazil: The New Generation], at Fundación Museo de Bellas Artes
1991 - São Paulo SP - 22nd Panorama of Current Brazilian Art, at MAM/SP
1992 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Brazilian Contemporary Art, at EAV/Parque Lage
1993 - Brasília DF - Um Olhar sobre Joseph Beuys [A Look at Joseph Beuys], at Fundação Athos Bulcão
1993 - São Paulo SP - Aviação e Arte [Aviation and Art], at Espaço Cultural do Aeroporto de Congonhas
1994 - São Paulo SP - 2ª Arte Cidade: A Cidade e Seus Fluxos [2nd Arte Cidade: The City and Its Flows], at Vale do Anhangabaú (Edifício Guanabara, Banco do Brasil, Edifício da Eletropaulo)
1994 - São Paulo SP - Marinhas [Seascapes], at Galeria Nara Roesler
1994 - São Paulo SP - Páginas Preciosas: templo - mídia [Precious Pages: Temple - Media], at Galeria Luisa Strina
1995 - São Paulo SP - 1st United Artists, at Casa das Rosas
1996 - São Paulo SP - 1st Off Biennial, at MuBE
1997 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Ar: exposição de artes plásticas, brinquedos, objetos e maquetes [Air: Exhibition of Visual Arts, Toys, Objects and Models], at Paço Imperial
1997 - São Paulo SP - Arte Suporte Computador [Art Medium Computer], at Casa das Rosas
1998 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som de Caetano Veloso [The Image of the Sound of Caetano Veloso], at Paço Imperial
1999 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som de Chico Buarque [The Image of the Sound of Chico Buarque], at Paço Imperial
1999 - São Paulo SP - Cotidiano/Arte. A Técnica [Everyday Life/Art. Technique], at Itaú Cultural
1999 - São Paulo SP - United Artists: Viagens de Identidades [United Artists: Journeys of Identities], at Casa das Rosas
2000 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som de Gilberto Gil [The Image of the Sound of Gilberto Gil], at Paço Imperial
2000 - São Paulo SP - Desfile de Vacas [CowParade]
2001 - Campinas SP - (quase) Efêmera Arte [(Almost) Ephemeral Art], at Itaú Cultural
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som de Antônio Carlos Jobim [The Image of the Sound of Antônio Carlos Jobim], at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Espelho Cego: seleções de uma coleção contemporânea [Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection], at Paço Imperial
2001 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - O Espírito de Nossa Época [The Spirit of Our Time], at MAM/RJ
2001 - São Paulo SP - Arte Hoje [Art Today], at Arvani Arte
2001 - São Paulo SP - Espelho Cego: seleções de uma coleção contemporânea [Blind Mirror: Selections from a Contemporary Collection], at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - O Espírito de Nossa Época [The Spirit of Our Time], at MAM/SP
2001 - São Paulo SP - Trajetória da Luz na Arte Brasileira [The Trajectory of Light in Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - A Imagem do Som do Rock Pop Brasil [The Image of the Sound of Brazilian Pop Rock], at Paço Imperial
2002 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Caminhos do Contemporâneo 1952-2002 [Paths of the Contemporary 1952-2002], at Paço Imperial
2002 - São Paulo SP - Feira [Fair], at Galeria Virgílio
2002 - São Paulo SP - México Imaginário: o olhar do artista brasileiro [Imaginary Mexico: The Gaze of the Brazilian Artist], at Casa das Rosas
2002 - São Paulo SP - Ópera Aberta: celebração [Open Opera: Celebration], at Casa das Rosas
2002 - São Paulo SP - Pot, at Galeria Fortes Vilaça
2003 - Rio de Janeiro RJ - Arte em Movimento [Art in Motion], at Espaço BNDES
2003 - São Paulo SP - Israel e Palestina: dois estados para dois povos [Israel and Palestine: Two States for Two Peoples], at Sesc Pompeia
2004 - São Paulo SP - 450 X 45, at Nova André Galeria
2004 - São Paulo SP - Still Life / Natureza Morta, at Galeria de Arte do Sesi
2004 - São Paulo SP - Vol., at Galeria Vermelho
2005 - São Paulo SP - O Corpo na Arte Contemporânea Brasileira [The Body in Contemporary Brazilian Art], at Itaú Cultural
2005 - São Paulo SP - Pequenas Grandes Obras [Small Great Works], at Cultural Blue Life
Source: Itaú Cultural
