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The author of eight books on art and technology, Lito won three gold medal awards
by the National Commission of Fine Arts and was invited to participate in the opening
of the Museum of Modern Art in Rio. He was commissioned to create 25 sculptures
for permanent exhibition in the Bloch Museum of Contemporary Art and had over 100
worldwide art shows. He had a special relationship with the Weitzman institute in
Israel and designed sacred environments for temples in Israel celebrating life in
its religious aspect. He trained teachers in Brazil in specialized programs for
teaching creative behavior in children. He worked at Columbia University in New
York City. While there, in 1980, NBC TV made a documentary demonstrating his use
of scrap metal in sculpture.
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Lito’s extensive knowledge of folklore landed him an invitation to decorate Rio
and San Paulo for the Carnival festivities. He built polychromatic moving sculptures
to decorate the cities and his art transformed a dense urban environment into an
exuberant poetic fantasy. The blending of color and abstract forms, combined with
the drama and joy of Carnival, evoke a sense of celebration as the artwork comes
alive in a dance of rhythmic movement and synchronicity. Three of the paintings
were chosen for publication as UNICEF greeting cards. Comedia dell Arte, a constant
theme in his paintings, recreates the worlds of traveling troupes of performers
in ebulliently colored oils and watercolors.
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Lito, the ever present rebel, believed that "art answers for the universe, for civilization
and for man himself". Always operating in his imagination, Lito believed that it
is fear changed into premonition of a hopeful tomorrow elaborated through colors
and objects that reflect the continuity of life. We are fragments of the universe.
We stop being ourselves when we no longer realize the existence of art, our neighbors
and finally humanity.
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Lito Cavalcante died in 2001 and is survived by his wife, Beverly (Ohbeeb) Cavalcante,
his daughter KC and two granddaughters, Sebastianne and Savaya.
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