Venezuela: A Shining Constant In The Artistic Sky

Ani Villanueva - Bubbles (2016)



Venezuela, a little like Brazil, hasalways produced art that combines polaropposites: the radical release of instinctsand the central role of the imaginationon one side, and the careful planning andprecise formal organisation on the other.These aesthetic approaches are evidently indebted to the great artistic revolutions of the European avantgarde movements of the beginning of the XX century. But I will never stop stressing how the arrival of these movements in Latin America rejuvenated them and filled them with new lifeblood.

Yanel SáNchez - Digital Print On Canvas (2016)

My city, São Paulo, is an established hub of global contemporary art. Its galleries and museums are quick to present the latest visual creations, even the most radical, from various locations. And even though I had often seen the works of the leading lights of contemporary Venezuelan art, when I went to Caracas and Maracaibo, I was surprised by its variety and the energy that it emanated. The Imago Mundi project provides an excellent overview of the local art production, as it not only focuses on artists that have already reached international recognition, but it also gives space to emerging artists. By not favouring a specific movement a priori, it provides a snapshot of the art of a country in its comprehensive variety. But what struck me was not solely the awareness and talent of the artists, but their willingness to acknowledge the breadth of the long history that preceded them, that not simply start with modernism.

Carlos Alberto Ayube PóVeda - Composition I (2016)

Venezuela is a country with a rich artistic history that dates back to the pre-Columbian period. The oldest known terracotta is the so-called saladero, with a minimal juxtaposition of red and white sections. Those excavated in the Barrancas area have a stylised decoration on the dges, whilst birds and human or animal heads are usually made with the graffito technique. A further variant is found in the ceramics from the Lake of Valencia area, with funerary urns in different coloured clay, often with parts in relief. There are also numerous female figures in various positions, with large heads and conical trunk bodies, which have been linked to land fertility rituals by archaeologists.

Graciela Bello - Untitled (2016)

In the XX century the urban renovation of Caracas and of other cities favoured the birth of an interesting architecture. After feeling the effects of the previous eclecticism, it settled fully in the modernist movement, where rationalism lived side by side with the penchant for surprises, which often produced outstanding results (especially from the urban point of view), thanks to the work of C. R. Villanueva, O. Niemeyer, G. Gasparini, C. Scarpa and other Venezuelans and foreigners. The creations of D. Carbonell at Altamira, and of Gasparini at Macuto, fused modern and traditional elements together, but always with a central functional aspiration. At the beginning of the century, the foundation of the Círculo deellas Artes, which included avant- garde writers, poets and painters, attested that in Venezuela too academicism was being questioned. In 1936 Monsanto set up an artistic training centre based on Bauhaus, which launched some of the most advanced art movements, such as the group of Dissidents, which included, amongst others, Alejandro Otero, Pascual Navarro, Luis Guevara Moreno and Perán Erminy, who accepted taking part in the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche’s Imago Mundi project.

ÁNgel Mieres - Like My Love (2016)



As is well known Venezuela is currently experiencing a harsh political conflict and its economy is in deep crisis, which is worsened by the drop in the price of oil, which for many decades was the country’s only export and main source of wealth. In Caracas, as well as in other areas, artists lack essential materials such as colours and canvases but, most importantly, there is no flour to make bread and other basic goods. However, the artists don’t give up and are even stimulated by a difficult situation, facing up to it with determination and a constant expressive energy. There are many, prepared and ambitious artists. In Venezuela it was easier than in other countries to find 137 worthy artists, needed for the Imago Mundi project. In terms of concentration of high quality artists, Caracas has few rivals internationally. I was also lucky enough to meet some fantastic people that supported me at every stage of the project and in finding the most interesting artists, of all ages. Now I can count Silvio Mignano as a friend, who placed his artistic knowledge and his residence as Italian Ambassador at my disposal, to host me and receive the artists, in a city where the risk of aggressions and robberies is very high and can begin with a simple journey by taxi from the airport. Raúl Peñalver and Linda Morales, who presented me and introduced me to many of the best artists, as well as running many galleries in Caracas and Maracaibo, which are veritable hubs of Venezuelan cultural life, have also become cherished friends.