Works of Argentine artists Oscar Bony (1941-2002), Nicola Costantino (1964), Leon Ferrari (1920), Gabriela Golder (1971), Norberto Gomez (1941), Victor Grippo (1936-2002), Alberto Heredia (1924-2000), Guillermo Kuitca (1961), Jorge Macchi (1963), Fabian Marcaccio (1963), Charly Nijensohn (1966), Cristina Piffer (1953), Juan Carlos Romero (1931) and Graciela Sacco (1956), are been exhibited through May 22, at Museum Morsbroich under the title Radical Shift.
The exhibition draws an arc between Argentine conceptual and politically motivated art from the 1960s and 1970s, its characteristics after those decades with imminent confrontation against the dictatorship, and the artistic production of the two following generations, that reflected the reality in a very different way. If direct expressions related to the political reality were formulated four decades ago, the questions on identity, combined with existential human experiences –isolation, loneliness, loss– presently gain importance. Violence, physical, repressive or framed into a historical context, plays the leading role in most of the works.
Based on outstanding artistic position, this approach to the contemporary Argentine art expresses its relevance and identity creation power. The images displayed by artists in installations, pictures, painting, sculpture or video are, at the same time, drastic and full of nuances. The fact that a few years ago Leon Ferrari’s retrospective –one of the protagonists of Buenos Aires’ artistic stage– was brought to a close and was on trial; shows the continued explosive force of contemporary Argentine art.
The project –organized in Argentina by Cristina Sommer–, is accompanied by a 226-page catalogue in German and Spanish languages, published by Verlag für moderne Kunst Nürnberg, including a hundred color reproductions, research essays by Claudia Gilman, Andrea Giunta and Heike van den Valentyn (curator for the exhibition), one prologue by Markus Heinzelmann, plus brief monographic texts on the artists, chronology, manifestos, artists’ biography and a bibliography on the development of Argentine art since the 1960s.
Source: Press release published in Universe in Universe, Mundos del Arte (German translation: Binder & Haupt)
Museum Morsbroich
Gustav-Heinemann-Strasse 80
51377 Leverkusen
Germany
