Artist Sérvulo Esmeraldo (b. 1929) was active in the cultural scene of Fortaleza in northeastern Brazil, where he conceived and organized two editions of the Exposição Internacional de Esculturas Efêmeras, in 1986 and 1991, respectively. Both were held in Parque do Cocó and included works by artists from Brazil and abroad. The exhibitions furthered communication between artists, curators, and the audience. However, although the event enjoyed a measure of recognition from art critics, not much information on it is currently available, which makes this front-page article particularly important. The shows were largely misunderstood in the local milieu because they were unprecedented; their aim was to foster debate on a sort of sculpture “that does not last,” work that cannot be stored or sold. Participating artists included Carlos Fajardo (b. 1941), Leonilson [Bezerra Dias] (1957–1993), and Carlos Cruz Diez (b. 1923).
Sérvulo Esmeraldo, along with Antônio Bandeira, Aldemir Martins, and Xico da Silva, is one of the most well known 20th-century artists from the state of Ceará. He gained widespread recognition in the fifties and sixties for experimental work that made use of electrostatic energy, producing pieces that contributed to both Kinetic art and Constructivism; the “Excitáveis” series was one of his major contributions. Esmeraldo was a printmaker and illustrator for the newspaper Correio Paulistano and, in 1956, he founded the Museu de Gravura in his native city. Thanks to a fellowship from the French government, he studied lithography at the École Nationale Supérieure de Beaux-Arts in 1957. He returned to Brazil some twenty years later.
Esmeraldo’s ideas about “the ephemeral” are based as much on kinetic notions (electrostatic energy that moves parts of the work) as they are on artistic concerns regarding the relationship between mobile ideas and static matter. These conceptions are evident in the catalogue to an exhibition of his work in the French capital entitled, like an essay of his authorship, L’idée et la matière (París: Galerie Denise René, 1974) (see ICAA digital archive doc. no. 1110761).