埃里亚斯·克雷斯潘
This curatorial proposal opens up different possibilities to rethink how we approach the work of art sensory and cognitively. Through the pieces of seven Latin American artists: Carlos Cruz-Diez, Jesús Rafael Soto, Elias Crespin, Magdalena Fernández, Felipe Pantone, Darío Escobar and Patrick Hamilton, it is possible to reflect on the different conceptual approaches to abstraction, its validity and its future in the global art discussions.
Since the debates initiated in modernism and abstraction by pioneers such as Carlos Cruz-Diez (Caracas, 1923 - Paris, 2019) and Jesús Rafael Soto (Venezuela, 1923- Paris, 2005) made relevant changes through formal processes, a different understanding of the artistic field raised with new forms of production of the artwork. The proposals of Elias Crespin (Caracas, 1965), Magdalena Fernández (Caracas, 1964) and Felipe Pantone (Buenos Aires, 1986) continue within this paradigm to show the contradictions and fragility of this concept, achieving to move in the space what often happened only in the spectator’s retina.
About the possibilities of geometric abstraction to generate ideas on cultural topics, Darío Escobar (Guatemala City, 1971) and Patrick Hamilton (Belgium/Chile, 1974) reflect on how to use them to develop a critical view of certain moments of Latin American history, due to the variety of perspectives about identity in the region. In Hamilton’s case, a reflection on climate change is visible, and in Escobar’s work the “construction” as a concept is revisited through painting, using geometry and industrial materials.
The project for this Viewing Room looks for a reflection about the dialectic perspectives of abstraction and its future in the art world by contrasting seven proposals that create a wide view of the different possibilities and creative potential of this artistic expression in the contemporary discussions.
