waltercio caldas_ the mirrors
aug 14 - oct 11_ 2025
The Mirrors
Giulia Baitz
Waltercio Caldas subverts the very essence of an object as ubiquitous as the mirror. Far from viewing it as a merely reflective surface, the artist conceives of it as a satirical, playful object that operates in a singular dimension—one that reveals more about our perception and expectations than about reality itself. For Caldas, the mimetic function of the mirror can be isolated and manipulated, allowing for the creation of mirrored environments that dispense with the need for polished glass altogether.
His exploration of mirrors began in the late 1960s and gained momentum in 1975, when he produced a significant body of work focused on the possibilities of the object—a line of inquiry that continues to this day. Driven not by the mirror as we know it, but by the desire to construct it anew, the artist creates artifacts that question both function and operation. A paradox emerges: the mirror shows what cannot be seen and, even more intriguingly, withholds what we expect to see—the image of the viewer. The relationship between viewer and work thus becomes an essential element in the artist’s poetics, as he seeks to assign new roles to mirrors and their images.
Caldas establishes a compelling interplay between artwork and observer. In Circunferência com espelho a 30° [Circumference with Mirror at 30°] (1976), for instance, the viewer approaches the work expecting to see their own reflection, only to be met with an absence—and with the discovery of a mirror that unveils another dimension. This unexpected void disrupts expectation and constitutes a denial of mimesis. The work reveals itself as a “defective mimetic object,” subverting the mirror’s traditional function and prompting a renewed mode of perception.
His mirrors displace the world and make us question our very sense of place. They invite us to reevaluate our understanding of these objects and awaken our curiosity. Is reflectivity, after all, truly the mirror’s most essential quality? To materialize the idea of mirroring without reflecting anything at all—that is the artist’s challenge.
From passive surface, the mirror is transformed into an active device, a provocateur that destabilizes our perception and calls into question our comprehension. In this exhibition, the works critique and undermine the notion of mimesis and the function of art objects themselves. They are invitations to introspection and doubt, challenging viewers to move beyond superficial reflections.