CAIO FONSECA: SELECTED PAINTING AND SCULPTURE

CAIO FONSECA
SELECTED PAINTING AND SCULPTURE
“..something can only be revolutionary if it has some relation to tradition.”
-Caio Fonseca
- Fifth Street C21.19, 2021
  Mixed media on canvas
  52 x 72 inches
American artist Caio Fonseca is well known for his lyrical, abstract works of art. A talented musician, Fonseca is fascinated by the relationship between tone and form, which he explores in his paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. Representing the irreducible form of classical music, Fonseca’s work often displays blocks of color that create dynamic energy amid his textured, off-white backgrounds. The energy radiating from these colorful, geometric waves aims to evoke the invisible structure of meaningful compositions.
- Caio Fonseca, Pietrasanta C08.33, 2008
This exhibition presents a near-retrospective of an artist whose work is so individualized, so very identifiable in its personal vernacular, that one feels as though transported into Caio Fonseca’s abstract world. From monumental canvases to tabletop sculpture and more midsize canvases, there is an undeniable European modernist sensibility running through his work. Yet he paints entirely in his own clear voice. According to Fonseca, “something can only be revolutionary if it has some relation to tradition.”
- Caio Fonseca, Pietrasanta C08.14, 2008
- Caio Fonseca, Pietrasanta C07.26, 2007
Caio Fonseca is the son of artists. His father, Gonzalo Fonseca (1922-1997), is considered one of Latin America’s leading modernist sculptors, and his mother, Elizabeth Fonseca, is an accomplished artist in her own right. Fonseca grew up in New York City, and later spent long summers in Pietrasanta, Italy, where his father maintained a separate studio. In 1985, Fonseca purchased an old marble workshop in the town that he converted into a studio. Today he divides his time between Pietrasanta and Manhattan. Fonseca spent his freshman year at Brown University, then joined his older brother, Bruno (1958-1994), in Barcelona where they studied with Augusto Torres (1913-1992), son of Joaquín Torres-Garcia (1874-1949), who trained their father a lifetime earlier.
- Modular Form 8, 2016
  Cast raw aluminum
  28 1/2 x 22 x 4 inches
- Fifth Street C14.3, 2014
  Mixed media on canvas
  34 x 20 inches
ABOUT CAIO FONSECA

Born in New York in 1959, Fonseca grew up in a true artistic family. His father, Gonzalo Fonseca, was an eminent Latin American sculptor, and his mother was also an artist. Deeply tied to these roots, Fonseca left his formal education from Brown University after his freshman year to study painting in Barcelona, Spain, under the artist Augusto Torres. During this period, Fonseca devoted himself to studying figurative painting until he moved in 1983 to Pietrasanta, Italy, which immediately captured his heart. Caio stayed there until 1989, honing his distinct abstract style. After two years in Paris, France, Fonseca returned to Manhattan, New York. Since 1993, Fonseca splits his time between his two studios in Pietrasanta and downtown Manhattan. Consequently, each work is titled either Pietrasanta or Fifth Street, in light of where he created the piece. Caio’s artworks are held in numerous important public and private collections including: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; The Museum of Modern Art New York, New York; The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; The Smithsonian Institution, D.C; The Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden, D.C; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX; The North Caroline Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC as well as many others.