Plastic artist Abraham Palatnik, 92, dies, victim of Covid-19 | Rio de Janeiro

Palatnik had been hospitalized since April 29, at the Copa Star Hospital, in Copacabana, in the South Zone of Rio. He reportedly suffered from respiratory problems, which were exacerbated by the new coronavirus.

One of the pioneers who works with kinetic art, a branch of the visual arts that explores visual effects through physical movements, optical illusion, or piece placement tricks, the name of Palatnik is recognized worldwide.

Currently, the artist has works exhibited in international institutions, such as the Museum of Fine Arts, in Houston, and the MoMA, in New York.

Born in Natal in 1932, Palatnik moved at an early age to where the State of Israel is today. After completing the first part of his studies abroad, the artist returned to Brazil in 1948, this time to Rio de Janeiro.

Around 1949, Palatnik began his studies on light and movement, which resulted in the Cinechromatic Apparatus. At that time, the artist began to design machines in which color seems to move. Based on these experiments, display boxes are created with lamps that move using motor-driven mechanisms. The invention was exhibited in 1951 at the 1st São Paulo International Biennial, where it received an honorable mention from the international jury.

Some years later, the artist joined Grupo Frente, along with Ivan Serpa, Ferreira Gullar, Mário Pedrosa, Franz Weissmann, Lygia Clark and other great names of that generation. He developed, since 1964, kinetic objects, a display of kinematics, showing the internal mechanism of operation and suppressing light projection.

In much of his work, rigor with mathematics is present and becomes a mark of his work. Palatnik is internationally considered one of the pioneers of kinetic art.

Influence of the psychiatric hospital.

Before developing the concept of kinetic art, Abraham Palatnik, together with Almir Mavignier and art critic Mário Pedrosa, began attending studies at the Engenho de Dentro Psychiatric Hospital, in the North Zone of Rio. There she learned about the work of Dr. Nise da Silveira.

According to the artist, the impact of visits to Engenho de Dentro and conversations with Mário Pedrosa influenced all of his work.

With the influence, Palatnik abandoned the school criteria of composition and began to release the relationships between shapes and colors. At that moment, the artist approaches abstract art.

In 1953, the artist presented his cinematic works, at the 2nd São Paulo International Biennial and at the 1st National Exhibition of Abstract Art, at the Hotel Quitandinha.

Since 1999, retrospective exhibitions of Palatnik have been exhibited at Itaú Cultural, in São Paulo and at the Niterói Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC).

In 2017, the artist won the retrospective exhibition “Abraham Palatnik – The reinvention of painting” with 92 works, three of them unpublished. The exhibition passed through the Banco do Brasil Cultural Center in Rio, as well as cities such as Brasilia, Curitiba, Porto Alegre and São Paulo.

Although recognized for his work with kinetic works, Palatnik also presented other novelties in the artistic world.

Some of his series, such as “Progressões” and “W”, in which movement is always present, even without the interference of motors or gears, his career gained even more prominence.

In these works, the lines created by the juxtaposition of wooden, acrylic or cardboard fillets maintain the feeling that the pieces move before the viewer’s eyes. The search for a balance between colors, shapes and dynamism is a constant mark of more than 70 years of production.