Caldas, Waltercio

Caldas was raised in a modern home designed by his father in Rio de Janeiro. He committed to art at an early age and studied at the newly completed Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro. In 1967, at the age of 21 he destroyed every drawing he had made and started over. The idea of starting over became a fundamental aspect of his work. From that moment forward he waived the development of a single theme across his works. His pursuit of novelty is an ongoing commitment.

Between 1964 and 1985, he remained in Brazil while a military dictatorship ruled the country. He channeled his antiauthoritarian views into editorial collaborations with fellow artists including Cildo Meireles, Jose Resende, Carlos Zilio and critic Ronaldo Brito. These publications defended art’s place within the public sphere, which the dictatorship tried to preclude. Meanwhile, his artworks did not reflect the historical conditions of his time.

In the 1970s, he incorporated the use of mirrors into his sculptures to draw attention to the machinations of illusion. His highly conceptual body of work generated comparisons to the New York Minimalism movement, which he resisted. To him, the Minimalists’ concept of ‘reduction to essentials’ was only relevant in a society of excess, which Brazil was not.

Caldas moved to New York in 1985, where he began introducing non-transparent materials into his sculptures. Today he lives and works in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Caldas has had solo exhibitions across North America, South America, and Europe. Most notably, he has had exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, the Kanaal Foundation in Belgium, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and in galleries across Santa Monica, Madrid, and Geneva among others.

Caldas also participated in the Venice Biennale in 1997 and 2007, as well as in multiple biennials in Brazil. He has been the recipient of various awards in Brazil such as the Brasilia Art Award at the Brasilia Museum of Art and the Mario Pedrosa Award at the Fine Arts Museum in Rio de Janeiro, among others.