“Untitled”

Carlos Vergara has an extensive and consistent body of work, which he has been producing since the 1960s and which has given him a prominent position in Brazilian contemporary art. He participated in the 1st Mercosul Biennial, the 18th and 20th São Paulo Biennials, the 39th Venice Biennial, and his work is part of the collections of the Inhotim Institute, the MAM - Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Niterói, among other important collections.

In 1965, he participated in the Opinião 65 exhibition, an initiative by collectors Ceres Franco and Jean Boghici, which brought together the most emblematic works of the time, including artists such as Waldemar Cordeiro and Hélio Oiticica. Together with the latter, he created the no less important New Brazilian Objectivity, an exhibition that was designed as a manifesto and placed Vergara's proposals alongside those of other avant-garde artists such as Antonio Dias, Lygia Clark and Anna Maria Maiolino.

Initially influenced by pop art and abstract expressionism, the latter due to his closeness to Iberê Camargo, Carlos Vergara produced figurative paintings with graphics and primary colors. During the 1970s, and given the country's political conditions, his work began to take a different path. On this occasion, the artist gave up on a solo exhibition at the MAM in Rio de Janeiro and invited other artists to participate in the show, making it a collective one. He created murals and panels in partnership with architects in several countries and won awards for these works, using Brazilian artisanal techniques. It was also during this period that he developed works with a carnival theme, in which he interfered with photographs.

During the 1980s, the artist returned to painting, abandoning figurative art and holding several exhibitions in Brazil and abroad. At the end of the decade, he began to use natural pigments and minerals, a research he continued to pursue in the 1990s, culminating in a series of engravings such as the award-winning Pantanal, as well as monotypes and canvases. In 2003, he held a major traveling retrospective curated by Paulo Sérgio Duarte; he has recently held several solo exhibitions in different Brazilian states and in New York.