View of Jarbas Lopes's exhibition "A Line," 2013. Courtesy Tilton Gallery.
Brazilian artist Jarbas Lopes has garnered significant international attention in recent years for his conceptual works, performances and interactive sculptures that build upon the experiments of the mid-20th-century Neoconcrete movement centered in Rio de Janeiro, his hometown. Like the artists of that group, such as Hélio Oiticica, Lygia Clark and Lygia Pape, Lopes employs unconventional materials and processes, along with novel permutations of geometric forms. Among the highlights of “A Line,” his second New York solo, are several large, imposing, untitled wall-hung objects made with woven elastic, a reference to the traditions of Brazilian Indian craftsmen. Stuffed with rubber balls of varying sizes, these bulging reliefs slouch to the floor with an oddly grand sort of abject elegance.