ESSAY BY HAROLDO DE CAMPOS

 

The double-framed work by Denise Milan looks very interesting to me: from sculptures, many times a mini-sculpture, to a monumental piece in a public space, where she is co-author with Ary Perez. It all looks to me as a very modern attitude on the part of Milan, and associated to the perception of an art object.

First, art made of light: it has to do with transparencies, with crystal-like structures, nature jewels. It is absolutely astonishing how nature goes on creating those geometric forms; many times one can tell what they look like, as if artistic constructivism were the last stage in the highly refined invention process in modern times. They are indeed associated to natural forms, with natural structures that are found in rocks. Denise Milan made very intelligent use of all this. She dismounted those structures from their natural scenery and projected them with such sensitivity as to allow for other angles and views, by using illumination devices, by creating different settings, by interfering in an extremely creative way in terms of aesthetic information. An aspect of nature – already splendid in itself – is granted as a Brazilian endowment to such sensitive artist.

 

Haroldo de Campos was a Brazilian poet, critic, professor and translator and widely regarded as one of the most important figures in Brazilian Literature since 1950. He and his brother Augusto de Campos, together with Décio Pignatari, formed the poetic group Noigandres that published the experimental journal of the same name, which would launch the Brazilian movement of poesia concreta (concrete poetry). Haroldo received his doctorate from the Faculty of Philosophy, Letters and Human Sciences of USP (Universidade de São Paulo), under the guidance of Antonio Candido. Haroldo was professor at the Catholic University, PUC-SP, and visiting professor at Yale and the University of Texas at Austin. His biography was included in the Encyclopædia Britannica in 1997 and he was awarded the Premio Octavio Paz de Poesia y Ensayo, Mexico, in 1999.