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Tate adds plants, parrots and sand to collection
By Louise Jury, Evening Standard 05.06.07
Exotic arts: A view of Helio Oiticica's Tropicalia installation at Tate Modern
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The Tate has bought the artwork that inspired the Brazilian musical and cultural revolution known as Tropicalia.
It is one of nine works by the Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica acquired by the gallery on the eve of a major new exhibition of his work which opens at Tate Modern this week.
Oiticica (1937-80) is regarded as a ground-breaking and influential artist who was a major figure in the Latin American avant-garde.
Tropicalia, his installation of 1966-67, lent its name to a flourishing of the arts in his native Brazil. Most notably, it was adopted as the title of one of the most celebrated albums in Brazilian music history, featuring Gilberto Gil, now his country's culture minister, and Caetano Veloso among others.
It featured in last year's exhibition on the movement at the Barbican and includes two architectural structures in an environment featuring sand, tropical plants and two caged macaw parrots.
The Tate has also bought four works on paper from 1958 and four sculptures.
A spokesman for the gallery said: "These acquisitions will significantly enhance the way Tate is able to represent modernism from a global perspective and continue our commitment to collecting Latin American works."
The exhibition that opens at Tate Modern tomorrow focuses on the element of colour in the artist's work.
Helio Oiticica: The Body Of Colour is the first large-scale exhibition of the artist's work in the UK for more than 35 years.
There are more than 150 pieces on show until 23 September. They range from early works with the Rio de Janeiro-based Grupo Frente to Grand Nucleus, a fully restored version of a work dating from 1960 to 1968 that comprises 30 paintings suspended from a ceiling.
Tropicalia is not included in the exhibition but can be seen separately on Level 5 of the gallery.
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