The new exhibition that is being shown at the MAC - USP shows the legacy of Venezuelan artist Oswaldo Vigas, who was part of the important European art scene without ever leaving his cultural roots.
Carolina Junqueira
Bamboo
São Paulo, Brazil. 04/06/2016
The new exhibition that is being shown at the Museu de Arte Contemporáneo da Universidade de São Paulo (MAC - USP) shows the legacy of Venezuelan artist Oswaldo Vigas, who was part of the important European art scene without ever leaving his cultural roots.
Venezuelan Oswaldo Vigas is recognized as one of the most important names in modern Latin American art and is the leading figure of the most recent exhibition of the MAC - USP, called Anthological 1943-2013, which will be presented until July 3.
This is a traveling exhibition and has therefore been through countries like Venezuela and Peru. Additionally, it also has the initial curatorship of Bélgica Rodríguez, former director of the Art Museum of the Americas, in the United States. The exhibition that has recently arrived to Brazil was especially reorganized by Katja Weitering, artistic director of the CoBrA Museum in Amsterdam.
In the works of Vigas, we can sometimes observe a strong relation to Cubism, while at other times, it relates more to constructivism and surrealism. Even though he spent twelve years living in France, his work navigates through the modern European trends without becoming detached from the cultural heritage of his native country. References to Venezuelan history and mythology blend with almost abstract human forms, or even, with architectural motifs such as murals.
To show the prolific artist's legacy, that encompasses paintings, sculptures and murals, Katja decided to make a non-chronological display, but instead, she chose to divide it into recurring themes that kept appearing in the artist's work. "We decided to do something unconventional, but I think that it will draw people’s attention because it will show a diverse and experimental profile of the work of Vigas" she explains. The numerous paintings and sculptures that are being exhibited are located close to personal objects of the artist, such as letters and photographs: "We wanted to show not only his works, but also the man behind them."
Although Vigas is widely recognized in the Hispanic countries of Latin America, he is not yet a well known name for a large part of Brazilians. "I think there are two reasons that have contributed to this: he did not like being the center of attention and he also rarely sold his works, making it very difficult to be famous", explains Katja. However, with the exhibition Anthological 1943-2013, the main goal is to convince the public that Oswaldo Vigas was, without any doubt, one of the most important figures of Latin American art.