RODRIGO CASS

Rodrigo Cass was born in São Paulo, Brazil, in 1983, where he lived and worked until his death in 2026. He trained in Visual Arts at Faculdade Santa Marcelina and also studied Philosophy and Theology at the Faculdade Jesuíta in Belo Horizonte. For nine years, he was a monk of the Carmelite Order, a formative human and religious experience that led him to develop an interest in contemplation, spirituality, and the symbolic value of artistic forms. It also brought him into direct contact with the ancient tradition of Byzantine icon painting in tempera and its spiritual dimension. His artistic practice is deeply rooted in the Constructive tradition of Brazilian art, drawing on a formal vocabulary that recalls the Concrete and Neo-Concrete experiments of the 1960s and 1970s, particularly the work of artists such as Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Willys de Castro, and Amilcar de Castro. Cass continually experiments with different media, including painting, sculpture, relief, and video, as well as materials such as concrete, linen, fibreglass, paper, and tempera. In his compositions, he breaks down the boundary between painting and sculpture, allowing the work to expand into three-dimensional space. In his videos, which are often projected onto three-dimensional supports, simple, repetitive actions unfold according to a rhythmic and cyclical articulation of time, focusing the viewer's attention on gesture, matter, and processes of transformation. Through these elements, Cass explores concepts of transcendence, abstraction, religiosity, movement, and mystery, as well as their relationship with the human body.

Throughout his career, Cass has presented several solo exhibitions, including Material Manifesto at Galpão Fortes Vilaça in São Paulo (2014), Espaço Liberto at Galerie MDM in Paris (2015), Até o Concreto at Galpão Fortes Vilaça in São Paulo (2016), and Espiritual-Vivente-Respira at Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel in São Paulo (2018). He has also participated in major group exhibitions and international events, including Building Material: Process and Form in Brazilian Art at Hauser & Wirth in Los Angeles (2017), the 10th Bienal do Mercosul in Porto Alegre (2015), and Imagine Brazil, a travelling exhibition presented at the Astrup Fearnley Museet in Oslo (2013), the Musée d'Art Contemporain de Lyon (2014), Instituto Tomie Ohtake in São Paulo (2015), and DHC/ART in Montréal (2015). His works are held in major collections, including those of the Centre Pompidou, TBA21, and the Museu de Arte da Pampulha.