Untitled (Sin título)

The body is the central axis of Luis Caballero’s artistic oeuvre, which developed in parallel to the emergence of abstraction in Colombia during the 1950s and 1960s. Influenced by the style of his teacher Juan Antonio Roda, Caballero’s work exists at the juncture of figuration and abstraction, expressionism and realism. His conceptualization of drawing from a model as a form of interaction between another’s body and his own reveals the profoundly personal nature of his work. In this lithograph, two nude male figures are entangled in a sensual and violent embrace: the kneeling figure appears to inspect a resting body that is either defeated or exhausted. The intense dramatism of this homoerotic scene conveys the simultaneous experience of violence and sensuality. The anatomical detail of bodies and perfectly executed chiaroscuro modeling in this lithograph reveal Caballero’s exceptional skills and mastery of this medium.

Text credit: Produced in collaboration with the University of Maryland Department of Art History & Archaeology and Patricia Ortega-Miranda