On Monday November 13th 2000, under the title "Pensamientos Emocionais" ("Emotional Thoughts"), Galería Elba Benítez opens its second exhibition of the works of Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto (Rio de Janeiro, 1964).

Ernesto Neto is heir to the artistic movement called Neo-Concrete, which arises in Brazil in the 50's and 60's headed by Helio Oiticica and Lygia Clark and which, for the first time, places the spectator at the center of creative action. The works of these artists, elaborated -like Neto's- from humble materials, require a physical interaction on the part of the spectator.

From the beginning, the body occupies a pivotal role in Neto's work, inseparable from the exploration of the psychological and social dimensions of his art. "What I am trying to do with my work is to propose a new idea to feel and understand our universe. I'm not proposing a solution or an escape, but rather a factor of well-being... where they (the audience) may find some spiritual peace," Neto says.

Ernesto Neto is fascinated by the processes of transformation and growth that govern the world. In his sculptures, he employs translucent lycra fabric, similar to a semi-permeable membrane, whose quasi-organic properties make it ideal for reflecting the malleability of the natural processes that surround us. Neto fills up the elastic material with hot spices and pigments from the Amazon, lead and Styrofoam pellets. The fabric can then be molded into different forms: ovaloid forms with umbilical cords and vaginal openings into which hands can be introduced; constructions that evoke tropical forests; nebulous environments into which one may enter. Oscillating between process and object, between inside and outside, Neto's sculptures turn from formal experimentation towards organic forms and the body. And they challenge the primacy of vision in twentieth century art by giving equal importance to tact and smell (1).

For his second show at Galería Elba Benítez, using fabric in tension that covers the whole of the ceiling, Neto has constructed a sky from which a spinning "body", similar in dimensions to a human body in the process of generating, comes out. This piece is entitled "If my Body Weren't so Far Away Perhaps it Would not Be so Close."

Other, smaller scale, sculptures conform to the different spaces of the gallery. Their titles, "Something Exists Between the Two of Us," "Her Body Sleeps," "This Time so Full of Bodies," and "Other Works that Slide through Time," are linked together through a poetics of their forms which allude to the body and its relation to time.

Ernesto Neto first exhibition abroad was held in this gallery in 1966. Since then, his international presence has been constant. Neto's work has been presented, among others, at the following venues: in 1997, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York; "Best of the Season: Selected Works from 1996-97 Gallery Exhibitions": The Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Connecticut (USA); "Material/Immaterial": The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sidney. In 1998, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo Carrillo Gil, Mexico City; XXIV Bienal de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo; "Loose Threads": Serpentine Gallery, London. In 1999, Contemporary Art Museum, Houston; James Van Damme Gallery, Brussels; Carnegie International, Pittsburgh; "Trace", First Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, Liverpool; "Collectors Collect Contemporary: 1990-99", The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; "A vueltas con los sentidos", Casa de America, Madrid; in 2000, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus; Site Santa Fe, New Mexico; "Raumkörper", Kunsthalle Basle, Basal. For the years 2001 and 2002 he is committed to exhibitions at the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporánea, Santiago de Compostela, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Australia, and at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC. Ernesto Neto's work has occupied a central and widely publicized place in the Vennice Biennial 2001.

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1. Katia García-Antón, Gramática jocosa, in Ernesto Neto, London: Institute of Contemporary Art, 2000.