Concretos Paralelos - Concrete Parallels

The exhibition Concrete Parallels / Concretos Paralelos was the result of a sustained programme at the Laurent Delaye Gallery over the last six years promoting and representing the British artists known as Constructivists and Systems Artists. The exhibition, curated by Maria Alice Milliet and Ferreira Gullar, was the first on any scale to consider the parallel practices of ‘concrete’ and ‘constructive’ art in Britain and Brazil from the 1950s to the 1970s.

This exhibition acted as a revelation and demonstrates the common ground that these two nations shared, without any significant knowledge of each other’s ideas or practice. Indeed the artists were guided by similar philosophy and influences, and lead by the desire to transform their practice into a new momentum to serve the needs of their time.

There are striking similarities in the formal concerns of the art produced in both countries, and in the issues and debates prompted by it. ‘On the simple level of appearances, there is a remarkable coincidence: the articulation of basic geometric forms through rotation, subdivision and projection is regularly encountered in both bodies of work, as is a formal exploration of space, interval and movement. And, beyond appearances, there is a common interest in the processes and materials of construction, in ideas of environment, in the relation of theory and practice, and in developing models for the audience engagement and participation. What emerges from setting these works together is a strong sense of a shared language and purpose, albeit one developed independently and in markedly different cultural and social circumstances.’ in Sam Gathercole, from ‘The Concrete and the Human’, essay for Concrete Parallels, copyright @ Sam Gathercole