So I finally visited Hélio Oiticica’s retrospective (The body of colour) at the Tate Modern and was happy to find exactly what I was looking for. Full colours on display: first used through the traditional medium of paint on canvas and board, and as Oiticica became more and more interested in the relation between colour and space, the pigments were applied on sculptures (or ‘Spatial reliefs’ as the artist titled them), then on assembled objects and in the shape of colour powder. In the end Oiticica gathered all his experience and came up with the series called Parangolé.

In the exhibition leaflet Ann Gallagher writes: “Oiticica reached a crucial point in his integration of colour, structure, time and space with the Parangolé series: banners, capes and tents constructed from a variety of materials, including fabric, plastic, mats, screens and ropes. He began to develop these flexible colour structures as a result of his involvement with the people of Mangueira Hill, a Rio de Janeiro shanty town, and they encouraged his immersion into the world of traditional Brazilian samba. The Parangolé, designed to be worn or carried while dancing to the rhythm of samba, represent the culmination of Oiticica’s efforts to encourage the viewer’s interaction with the artwork and to liberate colour into three-dimensional space.”

The artist used mainly warm shades of yellow, red, orange, pink, light blue. Walking through the galleries was a real joy and, in a way, a liberation. Outside the sky was grey and an annoying drizzle had been falling all day, but the works on display had such a cheerful and simple appearance that I almost forgot where I was!