Antonio Dias first came to prominence in the 1960s with his drawings and assemblages that ironically and playfully critiqued the Brazilian military dictatorship. Dias’ artwork defies categorization as it ranges across mediums, drawing influence from a variety of artistic movements ranging from Pop Art to Minimalism. In 1966, the artist fled the military regime in Brazil and settled in Milan where he focused mainly on producing two-dimensional works that championed rigorous geometric forms, often including text and words. The present lot illustrates a departure from the artist’s earlier style and illustrates his current preoccupation with Minimalism. Untitled (2005), while undeniably a painting is also a sculptural piece comprised of three rectangular canvases. The color palette of red and gold is one that Dias has often utilized in his work and visually it complements the copper tone of the canvas that conjoins the two components, creating a tromp l’oeil effect. In this work, Dias has challenged the conventional notion of a two-dimensional picture plane through his use of volume and irregular outlines. Through his destruction of the traditional pictorial space, Dias frustrates the viewer’s perception, forcing him or her to dissect each element of the artwork and re-evaluate the traditional idea of a painting.