Exhibition Opening - Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space

Exhibition curated by Josefina Manrique and Gabriela Rangel

September 29 - December 8, 2012

New York, September 11, 2012 — In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the artist Gertrud Goldschmidt, widely known as Gego, Americas Society will co-present “Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space” with Sala Mendoza and Fundación Gego. Curated by Josefina Manrique and Gabriela Rangel, the show will take place from September 29 – December 8, 2012 and is part of a series of exhibitions dedicated to Gego taking place this year in Caracas and São Paulo. Featuring a significant group of early works made by the artist in the coastal town of Tarmas, Venezuela the exhibition also includes pieces informed by the Reticulárea—an in-situ wire and mesh environmental structure. As one of the very few venues where a Reticulárea was installed in 1969, Americas Society is proud to examine Gego’s innovative and groundbreaking reconfiguration of the space through this outstanding artwork.

“Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space” gathers works on paper, photographs, documents, two and three-dimensional pieces, in addition to a rarely seen textile, which attests to the artist’s journey from topic landscapes to an alternative mode of abstraction. A special section is dedicated to the documentation of the various Reticuláreas made in Caracas, New York, and Frankfurt. This area focuses on the various spatial articulations that show the process of making each version of the Reticulárea. On display is a selection of preparatory gouache and crayon compositions, as well photographs, correspondences, and complex drawings and graphic works by Gego, including sketches of never completed reticular projects.

Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1912, Gego studied architecture and engineering at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart before her German citizenship was nullified in 1935. In 1939, she migrated to Venezuela where she lived and work until her death in 1994. Not long after 1957, Gego became a practicing artist and educator, creating in the subsequent years a consistent and significant body of work. Her artistic practice developed alongside Kinetic art and geometric abstraction—local movements that at the time were infused with a particular blend of intense and porous debate, but which ultimately contributed to the international postwar milieu of abstraction. Nevertheless, Gego proposed an alternative mode of abstraction that led her to mastering the space.

In conjunction with “Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space” Americas Society will present a one-day symposium on November 9, 2012, with Columbia University’s Department of Art History and Archaeology, the Institute for the Study of Latin American Art. The event will bring together a select group of art historians, cultural critics and curators to explore the historical relevance of Gego’s art at the centenary of her birth.

On view from:
September 29 - December 8, 2012
General Public Opening:
Saturday, September 29
3:00 - 6:00 P.M.
Opening hours:
Wednesday to Saturday
12:00 – 6:00 P.M.
Americas Society
680 Park Avenue at 68th Street
NY, New York 10065
 

Press Inquiries: Please contact Adriana La Rotta at alarotta@as-coa.org or 1-212-277-8384.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS

General Opening
September 29, 3:00-6:00 P.M.

Americas Society and Columbia University Symposium
November 9, 12:00–5:00 P.M.
“Gego at One Hundred Years”
Organized by Alexander Alberro and Gabriela Rangel with the collaboration of Monica Amor
Columbia University
Schermerhorn Building, Room # 612
In conjunction with the exhibition “Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space” Americas Society will present a day long symposium. Thanks to the support of the Institute for the Study of Latin American Art, Columbia University’s Art History and Archaeology Department is a co-sponsor.
The Institute for the Study of Latin American Art, Columbia University’s Art History and Archaeology Department is a co-sponsor.

Exhibition Guided Tour
October 23, 6:30 P.M.
Join us for a guided tour with exhibition curator Gabriela Rangel.

Exhibition Guided Tour
November 28, 6:30 P.M.
Assistant curator Christina De León will lead a guided tour of “Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space.”

“Gego: Origin and Encounter, Mastering the Space” is co-presented by Americas Society with Sala Mendoza and Fundación Gego. The exhibition and related public programs are made possible by the generous support of Chevron, Tinker Foundation Inc., Banco Mercantil, and Pinta: The Modern and Contemporary Latin American Art Show.

In-kind support is graciously provided by Columbia University, Sicardi Gallery, and Arte al Día.

The Fall 2012 Visual Arts Program is also supported by Mex-Am Cultural Foundation, the Consulate General of Brazil in New York, and in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Sala Mendoza acknowledges the following donors for their support of the exhibition: Pulido Mendoza Family, Fundación Eugenio Mendoza, Stelac Foundation, and Clarissa Bronfman Alcock.

Americas Society is the premier organization dedicated to education, debate and dialogue in the Americas. Established by David Rockefeller in 1965, our mission is to foster an understanding of the contemporary political, social and economic issues confronting Latin America, the Caribbean, and Canada, and to increase public awareness and appreciation of the diverse cultural heritage of the Americas and the importance of the inter-American relationship. Visit us at www.as-coa.org.