Miguel Ângelo Rocha’s sculptural work, relating to an early period in his career, brings together different materials and elements, natural or artificial, extends into a concept related to assemblage – a term coined in the 1950s by Jean Dubuffet, although it is generally felt that this technique originated in Cubism, Surrealism and the Dada movement of the early 20th century.

Continuing a series of works developed around the human body which joined the CAM Collection in 2000, this piece represents a part of the human body, a torso or thorax – the cavity containing the lungs and heart – a theme with particular connections to classical sculpture and one that is frequently approached by contemporary sculptors.

Formed of a wooden structure that has been hollowed out and subsequently filled with bread and polyester resin, this torso hides the organs of which it is composed. Surprising for the materials used, Untitled, from 1999, in some way loses its proximity to reality, as well as a direct relationship to classical sculpture, by transforming this fragment of the human body into an object composed of shapeless matter.