An exhibition of abstract art from Latin America. Created especially for Brazil, the shows features a significant selection of works which belong to the collection of Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, bringing to the public the geometric experiences which began in 1930 and still resonate today
ARGENTINA-URUGUAI
Perhaps one of the most prominent figures in the genealogy of abstract art in Latin America has been Joaquín Torres-García. His pioneering work in the creation of a mythology of the work of art as a manifestation of the Universal Absolute can be seen in the directions taken by his artistic contemporaries in Uruguay, whilst it also makes itself felt in the exchange of ideas with the Argentineans forming the Madi group. Both constitute a nucleus that serves as a benchmark for the poetics of the southern part of the continent, breaking down the frontiers of bi-dimensional art and exploring the limits of representation.
From the 1930s on, Torres-García focused his attention on the structure of the work of art, as the carrier of an interior order and nucleus of the vital impulse that animates art.
The challenge is to return the lost magical spirituality to art. This is why we find an interest in ancestral South American Traditions, as well as in the need to provide form for totemic constructions.
The animated structures of the Argentineans from the Madi group, formed in 1946 on the other hand, show a belief in the rupturing of the linearity of the canvas.
Years later, the objects now created by Colombian artist Edgar Negret are based upon a study of the geometric order that regulates the constructions of the Inca Empire.
