Oiticica exhibition fails to liberate colour

Oiticica died in 1980, aged 42, and many of the works have become untouchably fragile. But, irritatingly, Tate's curator-speak literature keeps citing this mere walking around as revolutionary in itself.

Tate Modern concentrates on a short time span of the artist's short career: his first ten years. But even in this truncated time frame you see an artist whose practice was swift to evolve and whose energy was boundless.

The show moves quickly, for instance, from the abstract paintings of the first room - made when Oiticica was only 18 and influenced by the rigid geometries of Piet Mondrian and the soaring planes of Kazimir Malevich - to his origami-like hanging constructions, such as Grand Nucleus (pictured).

The exhibition's culmination is Parangolés, items of painted fabric designed to be worn while dancing to the samba. But with no music pulsing through giant speakers and with the items hanging limply on a museum wall, the whole thing inevitably falls flat.

Until Sep 23, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1, daily 10am to 6pm (Fri and Sat to 10pm), £7, £5.50 concs.

Tel: 020 7887 8888. www.tate.org.uk/modern Tube: Southwark/Blackfriars

Helio Oiticica: The Body Of Colour
Tate Modern
Bankside, Holland Street, SE1 9TG