Expressive Forms

In her use of Amazons as the title for her work, Sánchez references female power. In Greek mythology, the Amazons were female fighters, known for being aggressive and fearless and only concerned with war. Sanchez brings forth this history, furthering the complexities of the painting. In this exhibition, a torso of a fighting woman is included as a historical artifact that embodies this history.

Expressive Forms draws inspiration from the relationship between Olga Albizu and bossa nova music, specifically how her abstract expressive paintings were used as album covers for American musician Stan Getz and his collaborations with João Gilberto from Brazil.

Olga Albizu is one of the earliest female proponents of abstraction in Puerto Rico. Her works are interested in exploring expressive forms with color and painterly impasto applications. At first glance, her works may appear as purely objective; however, her interest is to capture human emotion and spirituality. Hence, her artistic collaborations with the Brazilian music genre of bossa nova—known for its emotional, sensual and emphatic rhythm. Blue Oil (1974) is an impressive painting depicting a blue background with several squares in tones of blue, red, brown and black. Her brushstrokes are apparent in the works, creating an expressive atmosphere. Albizu’s emphasis on the color blue could also be a reference to the psychological aspects of this color, which according to psychologists, evokes serenity and calmness in humans.

Albizu was herself inspired by Wassily Kandinsky, who explored abstraction and geometry as means to access spirituality and sensibility. Improvisation 27 (1912) by Kandinsky is included in the exhibition to highlight this connection, a painting that also refers to music.

Albizu was a pioneer for this time, very much like other early female painters that used abstraction as means to access emotions, such as Russian avant-garde painter Lyubov Popova. An early pioneer, Popova was influenced by Cubism, Futurism, and Suprematism, the latter a movement that favored geometric forms as means to prioritize emotions. She created exceptional works, like this 1916 painting from her Painterly Architectonic series, that showcase her own abstract visual vocabulary.

Inspired by experimentation and abstraction, Lope Max Díaz uses different organic materials to create sculptural compositions that also work as paintings. His works are playful, sensuous and rigorous, challenging the format of the traditional rectangular canvas. In Colisión (1977), Max Díaz uses wood, rope and metal to create a sculpture, a two-dimensional work attached to the wall similar to a painting. The main object of the work is a large red square, which has a small blue square attached to it. A rope hangs around the work that seems to be suspending the work in space. Here, Max Díaz plays with our expected notions of abstraction to create a playful work that combines painting and sculpture.

At first glance, Street Story Quilt (1985) by Faith Ringgold seems like a geometrical depiction of buildings and windows of a city landscape. Upon closer inspection, one can notice that this quilted triptych presents a narrative of survival dealing with issues of race in Black communities in Harlem. Here, Ringgold used rigid structural forms to address social justice. In this exhibition, Ringgold’s works explore how geometry also have been used as devices to speak about issues of race, identity and community.

With minimalist strategies, Julio Suárez uses abstraction and minimal color to explore the human psyche. Laura (2001) is a painting composed of multiple gray squares with two white parallel lines in the middle of the composition. The title of the work is the name of a woman, a gesture that one can interpret in terms of affections. Perhaps this work was dedicated to a woman who the artist felt a strong affection for, a lover. With this information, the two lines could be representations of lovers, and this painting could be an abstract way of presenting love. In this sense, Suárez uses abstraction to evoke in Laura ideals of love and sensuality.

In this exhibition, Homage to Mahmoud Darwish (1979) is a work by Jordanian artist Mona Saudi that also explores ideas of love and lovers, specifically a love that can become fatal. In contrast with Laura, this work conveys the intimacy and spirituality of love between people in different ways.

In The Silence of Eros IV (1995) from the series Tattoos, Zilia Sánchez continues her explorations which turn geometric forms and the canvas into topographic spaces that resemble the human body. In this small painting, Sánchez specifically makes references to tattoos and their relationship to the body.

Alongside Sánchez’s work, this figurine of a seated woman from Ancient Egypt embodies a historical narrative of tattoos in human communities. In Egypt, women wore tattoos as creative forms, similar to their manifestation in Sánchez’s painting.

Nilbar Güres’s sculpture, Red, Old Woman, Yellow, Black Eyes, Brown, Pride Belt, Blue, Drilled Ears, Silver, Carpet Seeds, Blue, Teenage Acne (2014) is a totemic structure addressing identity with accessories from indigenous people in Brazil. Güres uses strategies of abstraction to address ideas of feminism and sociopolitical concerns. This sculpture also evokes a sense of femininity and continuity. Each fabric part that composes the sculpture can be considered a woman, on top of another woman, building on traditions, identities, and spiritualities.

Highlighting works from the MAC’s Permanent Collection and the prowess of abstraction in contemporary Puerto Rican art, Expressive Forms presents the relationship between emotion and abstraction, alongside works from other parts of the world. This is an opportunity to reconsider artistic practice from a very specific context in a wider conversation that considers an expansive way of artistic production. This presentation suggests global connections, delving into geometry, color, identity and social justice. Expressive Forms portrays how abstraction has been used to depict basic emotional and spiritual aspects of human life have been a source of inspiration across cultures and time periods.