Rodrigo Cass, Brazilian Artist Who Strove for ‘Sensitive Geometry,’ Has Died at 43

Rodrigo Cass, a Brazilian artist whose work found spirituality in minimal forms, died at 43 in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday.

His death was confirmed by Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel, the art gallery that represents him on Instagram. The gallery said that Cass died in an accident on Copacabana Beach and described the artist as someone with a “gentle presence” and “generosity” to the artistic community.

Cass’s work frequently featured bright hues, in particular sunshine yellow, orange, pink and blue. He borrowed motifs from classical Catholic iconography and styles derived from Brazilian Neo-Concretism. “A former Seminarian and deeply devoted to religion, he employed color in a methodical and bold manner, evoking mystical and existential dimensions,” said Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel.

In May, Cass had a solo exhibition at the Escola das Artes da Universidade Católica Portuguesa in Porto, Portugal. The artist said the show centered around the idea of “sensitive geometry” and that the pieces included in the exhibition were “rational structures” that “intersect with intuition, sensation, and affect.”

Cass also showed his videos in Times Square in New York as part of “In Between,” a video exhibition organized by ZAZ10TS in partnership with ArtRio, where digital billboards exchange between New York and Rio de Janeiro. His videos Continentes, confetes (2023) and Encontro amoroso do círculo com o quadrado (2023) were shown in a room filled with colored paper that bounced across three white walls and geometric shapes that slowly overlapped each other, respectively. “What connects the two works is this dynamic dimension: rather than static presentations of visible phenomena, they are records of actions that trigger chromatic effects and render perceptible hidden properties of matter,” said Fortes D’Aloia & Gabriel.

The artist’s body of work merged spirituality with abstraction. In an interview with CFA, Cass said that “for me, abstraction is much closer to the Latin word from which it originates: abstrahere. Its meaning is to synthesize, separate, isolate, all part of the act of choosing.” He added that Carmelite philosophy and spirituality were his main sources of inspiration in both his life and art. “I think a lot about the relationship between spirituality and art. The great thing is that I can make these issues public in many ways and also make them political,” said the artist.

Cass is survived by his mother, Cacilda, his siblings, Robson and Rosângela, his nephews, and his partner, Paulo.