Guto Lacaz: Dedication’s What You Need to Develop as an Artist

The Brazilian multimedia artist shows you how to discover your inner artist using his career as an example

What does a multimedia artist do? The answer to this question is as extensive and diverse as Guto Lacaz’ career. This Brazilian architect, graphic designer, set designer, and fine artist (among other things) needs no labels. His work spans a range of subjects and explores the technological possibilities of art, with humor and ingenuity.

Guto Lacaz began to see himself as an artist when he won the award given by the First Exhibition of Unusual Furniture and Objects in 1978. It won him the moniker: Brazilian Duchamp, and he hasn’t ceased producing paradoxical and absurd items of increasing complexity ever since. These days much of his artworks are full of great visual and conceptual impact.

Some of Guto’s major national and international awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship (1995) and a Pipa award nomination (2016). He has also been showcased in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including international biennales.

Art and technology

Guto Lacaz is an icon of kinetic art. His work often explores science and technology. “I’ve loved the world of motors ever since I was a boy. A lot of my toys had electric motors,” he recalls. Much of his work features engines and systems that amplify the meaning of his creations and evoke a sense of wonder.

Interventions and installations

He uses interventions, installations and performances to create projects that defy the established notions of time and matter. For example Boat 18, one of his best-known works, is an urban intervention.

His installations are generally created for indoor spaces. “I occupy these spaces in such a way to give anyone entering them a total sensory experience,” explains Guto.

Guto is always interested in relationships with the viewer, and often installs his works in public spaces. His eyes shine when he talks about his performances and direct contact with the audience. He loves the relationship that is an immediate response: “Sculptures, objects, paintings, things that are there whether or not there’s an audience, are a different kettle of fish,” he adds.

Creativity and inspiration

For Guto, creation is a mystery. He happily affirms “Everyone creates things, the only difference is that artists earn and sometimes lose money with their work.” He believes anything can be a source of inspiration, all you have to do is pay attention to your reactions to develop an idea. “Ideas are resting in a cloud, you’ve got to go there, grab them and bring them back to earth,” he adds.

Access to information and progress in the democratization of knowledge means that now is the best time to study anything. “Anyone who is an artist knows that they’re an artist,” Guto says. He believes you need to find the time to study, research, dedicate yourself to your work and produce it, because, he concludes “you can’t evolve without making things”.

English version by @studiogaunt

Loved discovering the career of Guto Lacaz?

You may also like:

- Cláudia Jaguaribe: A Visionary Artist’s Tips on Innovative Photography
- Carlinhos Brown: Innovative Artist and Percussion Icon, in Domestika Maestros
- Kiko Farkas: Brazil’s Iconic Poster Designer Shares his Creative Process