previews September 2000

Gego 1955–1990

Gego, née Gertrud Goldschmidt, fled Germany for South America in 1939 and became engaged, alongside other artists on that continent, in reinventing the Constructivist legacy in the '50s. Armed with degrees in architecture and engineering, she turned her attention to sculpture in a series of radical experiments that bring to mind the post-Minimalist work of Robert Morris and Eva Hesse. Gego's mature production, based on meshes and cascades of metal irregularly distributed in space, defies conventional approaches to the art object. Curated by the museum's own Iris Peruga, this giant survey brings

previews September 2000

Regist(r)os: Artur Barrio

Given the rise to prominence of an entire generation of Brazilian artists from the '60s and '70s—think Cildo Meireles and Tunga—it's a bit ironic that the radical work of Artur Barrio remains little known outside his own country. That should change with Serralves curator João Fernandes's 150-piece survey, which brings together registros—or documentation—of past “situations” in the form of photographs, slides, and books, as well as recent work. If Barrio's use of unconventional materials like bundles of meat and human waste has certain connections to “abject art,” his ephemeral

previews January 2007

Armando Reverón

That Armando Reverón, a “belated Impressionist” from the periphery, is receiving a full-scale MoMA retrospective—some one hundred paintings, drawings, and sculptures made between 1920 and 1951—speaks volumes about the quality of his work.

That Armando Reverón, a “belated Impressionist” from the periphery, is receiving a full-scale MoMA retrospective—some one hundred paintings, drawings, and sculptures made between 1920 and 1951—speaks volumes about the quality of his work. Best known for his nearly all-white landscapes of the Venezuelan coast painted in the 1920s, Reverón was a poet of the blinding effects of tropical light. The minimalistic results of Reverón’s recoding of the landscape genre belie the ritualistic excess that lay at the core of his practice. (His later work involved an almost fetishistic

previews September 2004

Jorge Oteiza

Although not well known outside Spain, Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza is highly regarded in his native country. The Guggenheim Bilbao, perhaps paying a debt to the region, is mounting a retrospective of the late artist’s work.

Although not well known outside Spain, Basque sculptor Jorge Oteiza is highly regarded in his native country. The Guggenheim Bilbao, perhaps paying a debt to the region, is mounting a retrospective of the late artist’s work. The show positions Oteiza’s sculptures, drawings, and collages, mainly from the ’50s, as precursors to Minimalism, particularly the cubic structures through which he created spatial “desocupaciones” (his term). While this is a temptation that no art historian dealing with geometric abstraction of the period can resist, the work actually has less to do with the literalness

previews September 2004

Fabian Marcaccio

The show comprises seven canvases that span the artist’s oeuvre, over six hundred drawings, a group of digital paintings on LCD monitors, and a room-size painting whose perspective shifts dramatically in relation to the viewer’s position.

This exhibition of Fabian Marcaccio’s work confirms the Argentinean artist’s European popularity (he is particularly well known in Germany, where his work was included at Documenta 11 in 2002). The show comprises seven canvases that span the artist’s oeuvre, over six hundred drawings, a group of digital paintings on LCD monitors, and a room-size painting whose perspective shifts dramatically in relation to the viewer’s position. Curator Christiane Meyer-Stoll explores the artist’s weaving of an interdisciplinary approach to painting with an interest in the condition of the image in contemporary

previews January 2001

Trans-historias: José Alejandro Restrepo

Curator José Roca chose an auspicious moment to organize José Alejandro Restrepo’s midcareer survey: The year 2001 marks the bicentennial of Alexander von Humboldt’s explorations of South America—long a point of departure for the Colombian artist. Through irony and metaphor, Restrepo has generated a rich body of work commenting on the dynamics of power and representation that helped shape colonial life in the New World. The show will include some ninety works—video installations, photographs, films, drawings, performance, and multimedia projects—in which the artist examines various

previews January 2001

The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945-1994

As Europe was busy declaring the death of the author, Frantz Fanon observed, “In the world through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.” “The Short Century” aims to explore the manifold subjectivities and modernities engendered by African liberation. This wide-ranging investigation of a continent’s cultural, social, and political memory will consider ideological and institutional exchanges with Europe during and after colonial rule. Curator Okwui Enwezor weaves art and archival material into an alternate history of the twentieth century. Feb. 9-Apr. 22; Haus der Kulturen der Welt,

print April 2000

“The Experimental Exercise Of Freedom”

This exhibition offered the perfect opportunity to overturn clichés about modernism in the periphery. Featuring the work of five of the most relevant South American avant-garde artists of the postwar period, Lygia Clark, Hélio Oiticica, Gego, Mira Schendel, and Mathias Goeritz, the show included about one hundred pieces from the late ’50s to the ’90s. But what the curators hoped to demonstrate—that the South American avant-garde developed in close dialogue with the legacy of Constructivism; and that through “the creative experience” the artist reconstitutes “his or her own subjectivity” and

previews January 2000

Mira Schendel, Sérgio Camargo, and Willys de Castro

Mónica Amor