Impulse, Reason, Sense, Conflict

Since its emergence in the early twentieth century, abstraction has transcended being just an art movement to become an aesthetic category. It has not only provided a series of models for diverse artists’ practices but also fundamentally altered the modes of distribution and reception in the art world. These changes have redefined how we understand art production in modern and contemporary times, challenging the conventions of pre-modernist art.

For this exhibition, we would like to foreground the paradigmatic models provided by abstraction that continue to pervade art production today. These models constitute the curatorial structure of this exhibition proposal, and each corresponds to a set of works from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection linked to an enduring narrative of abstract art. The groupings into which our exhibition will be divided are Abstract Impulses, Laboratory of Reason, Uncommon Senses, and Spatial Conflicts. Below is a detailed description of these groupings before viewing the images of the corresponding works.

Complementing these four groupings, we will include a fifth chapter in our catalog that explores the use of different media. This chapter, titled “Expanded Field,” is a significant addition to our exhibition. It showcases the breadth and depth of abstract art, demonstrating its influence on various artistic forms and inviting the audience to appreciate its versatility and impact.

Abstract Impulses

In what is already a well-known history, abstraction was related in its first phase to the rupture with mimetic representation and with the subsequence substitution of the represented object by the structural elements of the painting itself (color, line, planes, etc.). The chapter dedicated to this almost century-long crisis in representation will be referred to as Abstract Impulses.

Laboratory of Reason

A second paradigmatic model for art production that came along with the insurgence of abstraction is the questioning of the nature and essence of art. Instead of asking, “What is beauty?”—as was the case with classic or traditional art—artists express themselves according to an abstract approach, criticizing art’s very existence and declaring it dead. The works in this chapter are gathered under the rubric Laboratory of Reason.

Uncommon Senses

Uncommon Senses is the heading for a third shift in art models. Here, we will relate abstraction to modes of counter-visuality. With the introduction of many different materials and media and the integration and crossovers with other art forms such as theater, music, dance, and literature, abstraction demanded an approach that required the use of multiple senses, both from its makers and art’s viewers.

Spatial Conflicts

Abstraction implies a radical change in the conception of spatiality. Against the classical illusory space of Renaissance perspective, abstract art introduced the flatness of modernist aesthetics, as well as time and movement, to promote a real experience with art. In this final chapter, we highlight a group of abstract art practices that we refer to as Spatial Conflicts.

Expanded Field

With the advent of abstraction, many artists started experimenting with non-traditional media like photography, film, and collage. Since the second avant-garde, those experiments have expanded to installation, video, and digital art. Rosalind Krauss’ essay, “Sculpture in the Expanded Field,” is a crucial reference in understanding the urgency of transgressing the limits of the media artists have used since the inception of modern and abstract art.

Artists

Doug Aitken, Francis Alÿs, Miguel Amat, Regina Aprijaskis, Antonio Asis, Emilia Azcárate, Alberto Borea, Stanley Brouwn, James Brown, Carlos Bunga, Daniel Buren, Sérgio Camargo, Mario Carreño, Natalia Castañeda, Carla Chaim, Lygia Clark, Dadamaino, Sandu Darie, Willys de Castro, Iran do Espirito Santo, Leonardo Drew, Danilo Dueñas, Felipe Dulzaides, Olafur Eliasson, Eugenio Espinoza, Qin Feng, José Gabriel Fernández, Magdalena Fernández, Fernanda Fragateiro, Mario García Torres, Theaster Gates, Gego, Gunther Gerszo, Jaime Gili, Mathias Goeritz, Fernanda Gomes, Alberto Greco, Sarah Grilo, Andreas Gursky, Barbara Hepworth, Arturo Herrera, Alfred Jensen, Rashid Johnson, Donald Judd, William Kentridge, Jannis Kounellis, Liz Larner, Suwon Lee, Jac Leirner, Sol Lewitt, Renata Lucas, Guido Llinás, Anna Maria Maiolino, Sameer Makarius, Gilda Mantilla & Raimond Chávez, Raúl Martínez, Gustavo Pérez Monzón, Sarah Morris, Reinhard Mucha, Jorge Pedro Núñez, Hélio Oiticica, Gabriel Orozco, Jorge Ortiz, Alejandro Otero, Claudio Perna, Liliana Porter, Carlos Puche, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, Dorthea Rockburne, Carlos Rojas, Osvaldo Romberg, Ana Sacerdote, Francisco Salazar, Mira Schendel, Harald Schmitz-Schmelzer, Karl Hugo Schmolz, Günter Schroeder, Gabriel Sierra, Dolores (Loló) Soldevilla, Jesús Soto, Eduardo Terrazas, Erwin Thorn, Fred Tomaselli, Richard Tuttle, Adán Vallecillo, Adrián Villar Rojas, Alfred Wenemoser, Pae White.