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The Latin Invasion:
Art: The Work of Cildo Meireles

f you are listening to the radio or watching MTV lately, you know what I am talking about when I say the "Latin Invasion". If I hear the name, Ricky Martin, again I am going to burst! Oh, and that Jennifer Lopez, thankfully her singing is better than her acting. But, this crossover into the Latin world is not only in the music industry but also in the art world.

 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is considering opening another museum in South America. The Guggenheim Museum is an internationally known art institution that already has museums in three European countries. It is strongly considering Brazil to be its next potential site. The three cities on the running board are São Paolo, Belo Horizonte (my hometown. YAY!) and Rio de Janeiro. Therefore, with all of this Latin Mania in everyone's mind, I decided to do my first art review on a well-known Brazilian artist, Cildo Meireles, now exhibiting at The New Museum of Contemporary Art in Soho, New York.

 This is the first comprehensive exhibition of a South American artist here in New York. The exhibition draws on a twenty-five year period of his works. His works consist of five room-scale installations, about a dozen sculptors and drawings. His works include viewer participation in his installations that make the journey of looking at art and analyzing art into an environment of the senses. The physicality of the viewer participation is vital to his artwork to emphasis its conceptual nature, the engagement of the mind of the viewer rather than his eye or his emotions. In his work of 1992, Fontes/Fountains, there are 6,000 rulers, 1,000 yellow clocks and 50,000 loose black numbers in the installation. 

The rulers are lined in a spiral or labyrinth if you will, and the clocks cover the wall like wallpaper. There are also black numbers that are loosely laying about the floor. The numbers on the clocks are irregular and the numbers on the floor dematerializes the infinity of time and space, while these instruments are used to measure time and space. The viewer walks into a timeless space and is overwhelmed of how claustrophobic the space is and forgets about time and responsibilities. The only concern on the viewer's mind is getting around to the other exit. 

If one stops to look at the clocks and the rulers and the numbers on the floors, one can not help but look at ones own watch and check if they are still in the same "time zone". The fact that the room is painted yellow reminds us of the sun that divides our days and nights. It is also seen as aesthetically pleasing at first sight, but when you are inside and your mind wonders it has a more mentally challenging characteristic. Sol Le Witt has said that Conceptual Art can be images recognized as being language-like. Therefore, when one goes to the basement level of the exhibition, one can definitely take that idea to heart. The sculptor titled Insercoes em Circuitos Ideologicos Projecto Coca-Cola/Insertions into Ideological Circuits: Coca-Cola Project of 1970 has Coca-Cola bottles of various sizes arranged in a row. 

There are phrases of "Jesse Helms No!", "Yankees Go Home" and "Which is the place of the Work of Art?" Placed on the surface of the bottle. The first thing that comes to mind is Pop Art, because of the use of the mass produced consumer product of the Coca-Cola bottle. If one examined this carefully, one can imagine the Cola bottles as a government or global capitalization and the phrases as the voice of the Brazilian people in the 1970, rebelling out against government tyranny and also of American capitalization. 

In the 1970s in Brazil there was much political upheaval and here, Cildo Merireles is emphasizing his point of view on mass consumer products. Art like this can seem as unexpressive, but this impersonality of not seeing the brushwork of the artist and much more of a ready-made work of art resembles Minimalist artwork and of Duchamp. And it is this impersonality that makes the art more mentally interesting. 

Another politically charged piece is that if Desvio para o Vermehlo/Red Shift of 1967-84. The red room symbolizes the death of a journalist in Brazil who died in prison. This was a huge outrage in Brazil. The color of the room can only be thought of as the blood of the journalist. There is also a claustrophobic feeling to the room because nothing seems three dimensional because of the monochrome of color. There is a red picture of Marilyn Monroe, symbolizing the power of media stained with the blood of a journalist. Both figures dead, and yet ironic. There is also a video installation of running water and pictures of various details flash on the screen. 

The whole space seems like a crime scene and is very disturbing. As you walk along towards the end of the room there is an exit that has a trail of blood disappearing into the distance. The flashes of scenes of photographers and the media taking pictures reminds one of a movie, very surreal. A work of art that clearly demonstrated Cildo's interest in the power of the senses is his Entrevendo/Glimpsing of 1970-94. 

Before you enter this huge installation made of plywood built into a huge tunnel you are given two pieces of ice. One is salty and the other is sweet and they are shaped like the wind. As I started to walk into this dark tunnel all I could hear and feel is the wind of the fan at the end of the tunnel. I put the ice pieces in my mouth, that is the purpose of the ice, and walk right into the tunnel. I must say that I was a little frightened and yet kept moving towards the source of the wind even though your instincts tell you not to. Because your sense of sight is dematerialized and your senses of touch and taste are heightened you are a bit confused of what to expect. I believe that this is his intention, to make the viewer perplexed and challenge their senses and see which one dominates in an event like this. Even though my sight is not refined, my senses of touch and taste make me aware of my surroundings. 

There are other installations that create this excursion of ones sense in the exhibition. As an Art History student at Rutgers College, I have to say that being educated about art and not seeing and experiencing it in this way does not enhance my education at all. If there are any Art History student out there reading this article I advice them to go see this exhibition and no excuses, because it cost only three dollars with your student ID to see the exhibition. 

Not only are you given three floors of his artwork, but also there is a documentary on video that you can sit down and watch. "Art as Idea " is interesting and compelling in his artwork. The excursion of the your awareness and of South American political oppression is thematically incorporated in each floor of the exhibition. Perception is enlightened through clever use of the senses. The show is running till March 15, 2000 at the New Museum of Contemporary Art. Admission is six dollars, but us students get half off. Get first hand experience of what classrooms can not teach you and go out and see the show! But then again, what do I know; I'm only a college student.

-Renata Bomtempo