Brazilian artist's first solo museum exhibition on the West Coast

February 18 through April 15, 2001

The University of California, Berkeley Art Museum is pleased to present an installation by Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto. Ernesto Neto/MATRIX 190 A Maximum Minimum Time Space Between Us and the Parsimonious Universe will open at the museum on February 18. Neto creates sensual sculptural works that provoke viewers to interact. For previous exhibitions he has created "huggable" sculptures and womb-like, room-sized installations made from stretchy nylon and lycra that can be crawled through and explored. For this exhibition - his first solo museum exhibition on the West Coast - Neto will create a site-specific installation in the Phyllis Wattis MATRIX Gallery that deals in themes of sensuality and touch.
Neto was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, where he still resides. His work is created from disposable materials such as styrofoam pellets, glass, paper, paraffin wax, and nylon stockings. His most recent installations, including his widely praised installation at the 1999 Carnegie International, have featured a strong but translucent flesh-colored Lycra fabric, stretched and stitched to form large tunnels that expand to accommodate people moving within and around them.

A Maximum Minimum Time Space Between Us and the Parsimonious Universe will be a site-specific installation created in the Phyllis Wattis MATRIX Gallery. Although Neto will use the same stretchy fabric that characterizes much of his recent work, this installation will present a slightly new direction in his work. As with many of his installations, visitors will be invited to navigate their way into the sculpture. In this work, however, Neto has added a labyrinth-like quality, using semi-transparent panels of fabric fixed to the gallery walls and ceiling to construct a honeycomb-like form, creating a room within a room in which the visitor is completely insulated from the outside world.

Public Programs
Artist's Talk
Sunday, February 18, 3:00 p.m.
Neto will discuss his installation at the UC Berkeley Art Museum, considering his distinctive use of material and the erotic associations of his work.

Neto will also present a talk at the San Francisco Art Institute on February 19. Visit www.sfai.edu and click on exhibitions and public programs for further details.

Gallery Talk
Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson
Thursday, March 8, 12:15 p.m.
MATRIX Curator Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson will guide museum visitors through Neto's installation and lead a discussion of the role that sensory experiences play in Neto's work.

Upcoming MATRIX exhibitions
Ed Osborn/MATRIX 193 Vanishing Point
MARCH 18 - MAY 13
Installation/sound-artist Ed Osborn's miniature mechano-acoustic sculptures-small sculptures that, when activated, make a noise-are both low-tech and surprisingly provocative. A composer with degrees in both composition and experimental music, Helsinki-born, California-based Osborn started to work as an artist in 1994. For his MATRIX installation Osborn will create a site-specific work that relates to both the BAM/PFA collection and the building itself.