Antonio Peticov (born July 2, 1946) is a Brazilian

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, and engraver.

Self-taught Autodidacticism (also autodidactism) or self-education (also self-learning and self-teaching) is education without the guidance of masters (such as teachers and professors) or institutions (such as schools). Generally, autodidacts are individua ...

, Peticov's approach is based on systematic personal research in the history of art and its integration into avant-garde artistic movements in the second half of the 1960s. He also specialized in

sacred geometry Sacred geometry ascribes symbolic and Sacred, sacred meanings to certain geometry, geometric shapes and certain geometric Proportion (architecture), proportions. It is associated with the belief that a god or goddess is the creator of the univer ...

and the

golden ratio In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0, where the Greek letter phi ( ...

, giving his work a strong

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

character. In 1967, together with artists Aldir Mendes de Souza and Gilberto Salvador, he founded the group Vanguarda Jovem no

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

, participating in several exhibitions. During the same period, he began his involvement with the

Tropicália Tropicália (), also known as Tropicalismo (), was a Brazilian artistic movement that arose in the late 1960s. It was characterized by the amalgamation of Brazilian genres—notably the union of the pop culture, popular and the avant-garde, as ...

movement. He was president of the cooperative of Visual Artists of Brazil between 2003 and 2007, and is a member of the

Lewis Carroll Society of North America The Lewis Carroll Society of North America (LCSNA) is a learned, not-for-profit organization dedicated to furthering interest in the life and works of the Rev. Charles L. Dodgson, known to the world as Lewis Carroll, through its publications, and ...

. He founded and directed the Núcleo de Arte Contemporânea (NAC) in São Paulo, between 1999 and 2006. In 2016, at the age of 70, he opened the Antonio Peticov Institute of Art and Culture.

Biography

Childhood and youth

A Brazilian of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

n descent, Peticov's grandparents immigrated to Brazil with tickets paid for by the Brazilian government, who, after abolishing slavery, needed to replace the labor force. Peticov was born in the city of

Assis Assis is a city and a municipality in the southwestern part of the state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo in Brazil. The population is 105,087 (2020 est.) in an area of 460.61 km. The town was founded on July 5, 1905, and became a municipali ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, close to the border of Paraná. In 1960, while his family was living in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Peticov became interested in pursuing art after meeting Mauro Salles Júnior, the art director of the Batista publishing house.

Adult life

In the late 1960s, influenced by the

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

, Peticov saw himself as a

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...

. In 1969, he went to the

Midem Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...

Festival in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

with the band

Os Mutantes Os Mutantes (meaning '' the mutants''; ) are an influential Brazilian rock band that were linked with the Tropicália movement, a dissident musical movement during the Brazilian dictatorship of the late 1960s. The band is considered to be one of ...

, whom he helped found while managing the Six Sided Rockers. Peticov visited

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

where he was an assistant to his friend, artist

Hélio Oiticica Hélio Oiticica (; July 26, 1937 – March 22, 1980) was a Brazilian visual artist, sculptor, painter, performance artist, and theorist, best known for his participation in the Neo-Concrete Movement, for his innovative use of color, and for ...

, in the assembly of his exhibition at the

Whitechapel Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the fir ...

. In 1970, at the age of 23, he was arrested for the dissemination of

lysergic acid Lysergic acid, also known as -lysergic acid and (+)-lysergic acid, is a precursor for a wide range of ergoline alkaloids that are produced by the ergot fungus and found in the seeds of '' Turbina corymbosa'' (ololiuhqui), '' Argyreia nervosa'' ...

(LSD) in Brazil. Among those working on the case was investigator and torturer Angelino "Russinho" Moliterno, who was part of Brazil's so-called "

death squads A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

". According to ''Vice'', despite being tortured and taken to Carandiru Penitentiary, Peticov was subsequently cleared in what was the first judicial process of this matter in Brazil. During the 70 days he was at Carandiru, he continued to draw and paint, becoming friendly with a fellow prisoner, Giuseppe Baccaro, an Italian intellectual and art merchant, who was arrested for possession of a

joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw ...

. He was interviewed by

Antônio Abujamra Antônio Abujamra (15 September 1932 – 28 April 2015) was a Brazilian theatre and television director and actor. Having majored in journalism and philosophy at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul in 1957, he started a car ...

in 2016 on the

TV Cultura TV Cultura or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian public television network headquartered in São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the mos ...

interview program ''Provocações'' and stated: "In my hand there appeared a large amount of lysergic acid, which was perhaps the most important invention of the 20th century, because it was the opportunity to have in my hand, in my pocket, or in my wallet the ticket for the most important trip that a person can have in his life, the trip to his interior. I felt obliged to disclose that." The severity of the prison experience and the strong repression of Brazil's military dictatorship, together with his new marriage to his first wife Maria Luiza, motivated Peticov to leave for exile in London, at the age of 24. In 1985 he moved again, this time to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he lived until 1999. While in New York, he designed the poster for the

Javits Center The Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, commonly known as the Javits Center, is a large convention center on Eleventh Avenue between 34th Street and 38th Street in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by architect James ...

inauguration, and created several of his best known works. He later married Elizabeth dos Santos Peixoto, with whom he had son, Pedro Antonio, born in Brazil in 1990. He traveled back and forth between the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and Brazil, returning to Brazil permanently in 2000 and settling in

Brooklin Brooklin may refer to *Brooklin, Ontario, Canada *Brooklin, California, United States *Brooklin, Maine, United States *Brooklin, West Virginia, United States *Brooklin (São Paulo Metro), Brazil *Brooklin Novo, or adjacent Brooklin Velho, neighbour ...

. In 2017, Peticov began his autobiography. In 2020, he participated in a Fundação Nacional de Artes (Funarte) festival, presenting "6 releituras de Antonio Peticov - Uma exposição guiada pelo artista", directed by his son Pedro Antonio. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he is active on livestreams about varied themes: usually art, mathematics, music, sacred geometry and curiosities.

Installations and productions

Peticov has a diversified production that follows varied tendencies of the international artistic avant-garde of the last decades. He has created environmental installations and murals in Italy, Switzerland, the United States, and Brazil. He has also produced audiovisual productions, among them: * In 1982, the ''Bali Ballet'' in Cloudwalk Farm, Connecticut. * In 1983, the installation ''The Big Ladder'' in front of the Coliseum in New York. * In 1986, the installation ''Sete Anéis'' in Rio de Janeiro. * In 1988, the sculpture ''The Golden Wæll'' (in the form of a large spiral, in honor of the town of

Aiuruoca Aiuruoca is a city in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. Th ...

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is a state in Southeastern Brazil. It ranks as the second most populous, the third by gross domestic product (GDP), and the fourth largest by area in the country. The state's capital and largest city, Belo Horizonte (literally ...

). * In 1989, presented ''Projeto Natura - Rio Pinheiros'' at the 20th São Paulo International Biennial. * In 1990, the mural ''Momento Antropofágico com

Oswald de Andrade José Oswald de Souza Andrade (January 11, 1890 – October 22, 1954) was a Brazilian poet, novelist and cultural critic. He was born, spent most of his life and died in São Paulo. Andrade was one of the founders of Brazilian modernism and a m ...

'' in the

São Paulo Metro The São Paulo Metro ( pt, Metrô de São Paulo, ), commonly called the ''Metrô'' () is one of the urban railways that serves the city of São Paulo, alongside the São Paulo Metropolitan Trains Company (CPTM), forming the largest metropolit ...

's Republica station (Line 3 - Vermelha). * In 1992, the ''Projeto Bosque Natura'' in Rio de Janeiro. * In 1995, the installation ''Torre Transburti'' and three other murals in Santo Amaro station (Line 5 - Lilás). * In 2020, the mini documentary "6 releituras de Antonio Peticov - Uma exposição guiada pelo artista" in collaboration with Funarte.

Golden ratio and mathematics

Having moved to Milan in 1972, Peticov bought a copy of Aldo Montù's 1970 book ''Φ = 1.61803398875... Appunti ed annotazioni su Natura e Geometria - Progressione Aurea e forme pentagonali''. Full of detailed illustrations and graphs, this book had a great influence on his work. He was also introduced to the

Fibonacci Sequence In mathematics, the Fibonacci numbers, commonly denoted , form a integer sequence, sequence, the Fibonacci sequence, in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. The sequence commonly starts from 0 and 1, although some authors start ...

, with whole numbers mirroring the irrational numbers derived from Φ. In addition, the influence of

Martin Gardner Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis ...

, through Peticov's participation in the biennial

Gathering 4 Gardner Gathering 4 Gardner (G4G) is an educational foundation and non-profit corporation (Gathering 4 Gardner, Inc.) devoted to preserving the legacy and spirit of prolific writer Martin Gardner. G4G organizes conferences where people who have been inspi ...

conventions, further deepened the relationship of his work to numbers and geometry in general. In this vein, Peticov has worked with aperiodic tiles; his 1990 project ''Momento Antropofágico com Oswald de Andrade'' – a work full of mathematical references – was installed in São Paulo's República metro station. A scholar of puzzles, he has a collection of mathematical objects, puzzles, aperiodic tiles (which he also designs), and paradoxical objects in the largest collection of its kind in Brazil.

Posters, book, and album covers

Peticov has created posters, book, and album covers for varied events and artists, both in Brazil and abroad, including: * X National Congress of Education * PrimaVera Festival in São Paulo (1969) - cancelled by the dictatorship 48 hours before its undertaking * Re Nudo Pop Festival (1973) * Cover of the album "Visões" by Léo Gandelman (1981) * Art Expo '86 - Inauguration of the Javits Convention Center (1986) *

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the ...

100th Birthday Celebration (1986/1987) * 38th Festa do Peão de Boiadeiro de Barretos (1993) * The Phoenix Symphony (1993/1994) * Monark Turismo (1994) * Heineken Concerts - São Paulo/Rio de Janeiro (1995) * Sofia National Library - Creative Bulgarians Abroad (1996) *

Rock in Rio ''Rock in Rio'' is a recurring music festival originating in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It later branched into other locations such as Lisbon, Madrid and Las Vegas. Nine incarnations of the festival have been held in Rio de Janeiro, in 1985, 1991, ...

and

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

(2001)

References

External links

Antonio Peticov Institute of Art and CultureOfficial websiteVideo of the artist
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peticov, Antonio 1946 births Living people 20th-century Brazilian male artists 21st-century Brazilian male artists Brazilian engravers Brazilian installation artists Brazilian painters Brazilian people of Bulgarian descent Brazilian sculptors Mathematical artists People from Assis