Registro [Register]

Caetano de Almeida established his signature style with a foundational series of works that includes Registro, using paint or ink as if it were thread to weave abstract patterns onto canvas or paper. From afar, this painting looks like a section of fabric hanging diagonally upon the wall. Up close, these rhythmically intersecting colored lines are revealed to be painted by hand, rather than using the warp and weft of a loom. In such works, de Almeida draws from the long history of Concrete Art in Brazil, and especially from Concretismo in São Paulo, where the artists of the 1950s favored mathematical precision. Yet, unlike them, he allows paint to drip and splotch, running down the exposed sides of the canvas, revealing his process through imperfections. By rotating the grid on its axis, de Almeida creates a diagonal network of lines that weave across the canvas to disrupt its rational logic and transforms it into a readymade vehicle for experimenting with the interplay of color.