Henrique Faria, New York
October 16 – November 24, 2009
Geometric Abstract Works: The Latin American vision from the 1950s, 60s and 70s offers a rare opportunity to view seminal works by Latin American artists whose exposure in the United States has been limited. This is the first in a series of historically rooted exhibitions on Latin American art by Henrique Faria Fine Art. The show presents over thirty works from an array of movements associated with Constructivist trends in Latin America with a focus on three seminal decades. Artists included are: José Pedro Costigliolo, María Freire, Antonio Llorens and Raúl Pavlotzky from Uruguay; Julián Althabe, Martín Blaszko, Raúl Lozza and Gregorio Vardanega from Argentina; Sérgio Camargo, Willys de Castro and Judith Lauand from Brazil; Omar Carreño, Gego, Gerd Leufert, Alejandro Otero, Rafael Pérez, Carlos Cruz-Díez and Víctor Valera from Venezuela; Fanny Sanín from Colombia and Carmen Herrera from Cuba.
Emerging from the posture of presenting an argument generated by the works themselves, Geometric Abstract Works embraces each individual’s aesthetic through aggregation and visual analogies. Blaszko’s Pintura Madi (1947), is a wonderful example of this movement’s desire to celebrate asymmetry, use vibrant colors and employ irregularly shaped canvases; while Vardanega’s Sagitario-Ecuacion (1958) creates the illusion of levitation through a dance of tiny triangles sprinkled on a cerulean background. Camargo’s Untitled (c. 1973) is a marble sculpture which plays with equilibrium by balancing one column off-kilter above another. Lauand’s Untitled (1960) depicts blocks of muted color in a spare composition that swaddles geometric abstraction in minimalism. Meaningful connections can also be made between the incorporation of everyday life materials in works such as Gego’s Drawing without Paper (1978) made of wire and thread, and Otero’s Hoy en TV (1965) made from discarded newspapers.
Henrique Faria Fine Art specializes in modern and contemporary Latin American art, with a focus on geometric abstraction and conceptualism. Over the past decade Faria has operated privately in New York and in 2007 he opened Faria+Fábregas Galería in Caracas, Venezuela. The gallery aims to support the legacy of historic figures and the practice of established and emerging artists. Currently, works by Luis Roldán (Colombia), Ramsés Larzábal (Cuba) and Magdalena Fernández (Venezuela) are exhibited in the 53rd Venice Biennale. The gallery will exhibit at Pinta New York, Art Basel Miami and The Armory Show.
Geometric Abstract Works: The Latin American vision from the 1950s, 60s and 70s is organized at Henrique Faria Fine Art by guest curator Monica Espinel, an independent curator and critic.
