Cruz -Diez in Black and White. Photographs 1942 - 1986
Cruz -Diez in Black and White. Photographs 1942 - 1986
Curator: Edgar Cherubini Lecuna
MACBA - Museum of Contemporary Art in Buenos Aires
From 10 May to 13 July, 2014
Carlos Cruz-Diez is considered one of the leading representatives of contemporary art. Participan of the Kinetic Movement in the late '50s, his research and the development of his artistic reflection revolve around color. However, there is one facet of the artist that is revealed in black and white. His photographs. They speak of a visual research and aesthetics from the early years of his life in art during the '40s , and of his European adventure from 1955.
A seeker eye with a very personal aesthetic, so is the value of this set of images. The selection for this exhibition was guided not only by the sense of photographic aesthetics, but also the historical and documentary value of many of the photos.
MACBA presents on this occasion, and for the first time in Buenos Aires, over 50 photographs in black and white of the Venezuelan maestro. Amongst them, a series of pieces stand out for its documentary value that record various Venezuelan popular and religious festivals. The set of photographs on the Procession of St. Peter and the other core dedicated to the Dancing Devils of Yare. The first, held on June 29 in Guarenas and Guatire, populations of Miranda state; where a procession and a theatrical history of the vernacular is held in the streets of the village. The second, held in San Francisco de Yare, also in Miranda, in the day of Corpus Christi. Its meaning is the struggle between good and evil. It is a phenomenon of religious syncretism executed by the "Society of the Blessed" secret brotherhood that goes back to the eighteenth century. Every Thursday of Corpus Christi, the so-called dancing devils, carrying masks, walk the streets of their town wearing red suits of hanging bells, rattles and amulets, dancing to the sound of traditional drums.
Accompanying these photographs, we present others linked to his travels in Europe and the U.S., as portraits of American and foreign artists in Paris.
In the words of curator Edgar Lecuna Cherubini, "Cruz-Diez in black and white represents a new perspective on the visual poetics of the artist."
