Savage Modern & Surfaces

Alexander Apóstol: Savage Modern

The exhibition Savage Modern by Alexander Apóstol centers on revealing the contradictions and complexities of modernism and modernity in a Third World country like Venezuela. The exhibition's title also refers to a video included in the show. This piece highlights one of Caracas's most significant icons of Venezuelan modernity: the Villa Planchart, designed in the 1950s by Italian architect Gio Ponti. Ponti created a unique exhibition space for this house to display or conceal the Plancharts' hunting trophies at will. The notion of the "modern savage" in this context reflects the utopian effort to contain the vitality, changeability, and wildness of the untamed animal world—or allegorically, the "nature" of Venezuelans and their culture—within an ordered, neutral environment like modernist space. Apóstol's photographs and videos depict Venezuelan modernity as neither barbaric nor unsophisticated but a unique form of modernism undergoing constant implosion, flux, and contradiction.

Magdalena Fernández: Surfaces

Magdalena Fernández's Surfaces represent a sophisticated exploration of the sculptural possibilities within geometric abstraction, extending beyond the accepted boundaries of modernism. She builds upon Venezuela's rich abstract-geometric tradition, particularly the organic complexity of Gego’s Reticulareas(1969–the 1970s) and the kinetic art of Jesús Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez. In the late 1950s, Soto and Cruz-Diez began experimenting with incorporating movement into their works, often influenced by the viewer's displacement in relation to the art. For Fernández, natural elements like water, fire, and sound play a crucial role in connecting her art to the world around us. In Surfaces, she expands our perception of basic geometric shapes such as the square by making natural elements the focal point of her works. In pieces like 1dm003 'Eleutherodactylus Coqui', sounds such as frogs croaking dictate the unpredictable behavior of the geometric forms. Similarly, the cry of an Amazonian macaw (Ara ararauna) influences the colors and movements of the planes in 1pm006 "Ara Ararauna".

Light and movement are fundamental aspects of Fernández's work, creating a dynamic and engaging experience for the audience. In some pieces, light defines the geometric shapes and projects volumes that are neither static nor clearly delineated. In her videos, the sharpness and definition of geometric forms dissolve into the inner movement of the lines, transforming them into delicate, living, organic threads.