Tree house
Since 1972, he has lived in the south of the state of Bahia, in Nova Viscoça by the Atlantic Ocean, in a tree house suspended seven metres above the ground, which was also the location of his atelier – Sítio Natura. The artist went to Bahia upon an invitation from his dear friend, Zanine Caldas, who helped him build the house. He had planted several thousand saplings of trees native to the Atlantic Forest on the grounds surrounding the house. Two pavilions, now housing over three hundred of his artworks, were also raised there. There are plans to create a museum as a tribute to the artist, who since 1978, besides his artistic career, has pursued a path of an environmental activist. Krajcberg decided that his artistic activity should awaken the global conscience. The artist stated that:
As a human being, I am completely completely connected to nature. My existence, my life, my culture – is the natural environment. My survival and my creativity depend on it. The knowledge about the destruction of environment pushed me into a huge rebellion, which I express through my work. For over forty years, I have been working, fighting, and condemning the acts of destruction.
Krajcberg's oeuvre continued to express anxiety and concern about the future of natural environment in Brazil and worldwide. ‘His work carries an ethical dimension, it transcends the art framework,’ the art critic Agnaldo Farias says about him. In the 1980s, Krajcberg began working on the series Africana, in which he used roots, grape and palm tree vines in combination with mineral pigments. His sculptures are made mainly out of tree trunks and roots washed up on shores. He has made many trips to the Amazonia and Mato Grosso state – the two most environmentally rich regions in Brazil. He began taking photographs of the Amazon Rainforest, which is gradually eradicated as a result of deforestation. From that time on, he began using charred tree parts, their roots, trunks, and branches.
Our planet is in a grave situation. Nature is revengeful, and we harm it too much. We mustn't remain passive .
2003 saw the inauguration of the Frans Krajcberg Institute in Curitiba, housing over one hundred works by the artist. Krajcberg has received the Brazilian Medal of the Order of Rio Branco (2002), the Grand Cross of Ordem do Mérito Cultural (2004), and the title of the Knight of the Ipiranga Order (2009). In 2008, he received the São Paulo Association of Art Critics (APCA) Prize. In 1987, Walter Salles, a prominent Brazilian director and screenwriter directed a documentary film about the artist's life and work, titled Krajcberg, poeta dos Vestígios.
He passed away aged 96 in a Rio de Janeiro hospital on 15th November 2017.
Author: Aleksandra Pluta; translated by AM, June 2016; updated by AZ, Nov 2017.