MoLAA ditches the narrative with ‘Sites of Latin American Abstraction’

‘ESTRUCTURA DE PETROLEO’ by LEO MATIZ

Latin American art—at least in terms of how we’ve come to know it since our first lessons in elementary and high school—is generally recognized as being narrative-driven, defined by realistic pieces that bypass the abstract in favor of more accessible visuals. To counter this notion, the Museum of Latin American Art’s latest offering, “Sites of Latin American Abstraction,” is an extensive showcase of both eminent and lesser-known abstract artists from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela—to name just a few of the countries represented. It’s a challenging and refreshing look at a seldom-examined movement from these regions, featuring over 200 works in what’s ultimately a cohesive and thorough chronicle of Latin American art’s modern shift towards abstraction.

But be careful: “Sites” is a real doozy. Guest curator Juan Ledezma fills four large rooms with a bounty of abstract art spanning all of Latin America, decades of history and most every artistic medium—but it’s in no chronological order. But this arrangement is clearly intentional. Drawing upon formal aspects—rather than art movements, eras or regions—to unite the works, the exhibition seems blatantly to point to the cohesive power of the grid—that is, of shapes and forms (I mean, they’re everywhere!).

They’re also what makes “Sites” such a success. After maneuvering through this carefully curated show, it becomes apparent that we don’t necessarily need realism and visual narratives to move or affect us: shapes and forms can do it just the same. The illustrious collection of artists showcased here—like Joaquín Torres-García, Jesús Soto, Gego, Lygia Clark—clearly understand this full well. (An example: Mathias Goeritz’s Mensaje: Decoración Mural is a magnificent sculptural relief, a brilliant wall of stainless steel painted gold that greets us at the gallery’s double doors. Its surface is pierced with small, black holes throughout, like tiny rivets on the wall of a cave . . . or a giant crumpled piece of gold paper.)

In addition, for an exhibition of abstract art, this show has a great deal of photography. Several gallery walls are dedicated to black-and-white prints made by artists like Geraldo De Barros, Leo Matiz and Anne Marie Heinrich, who approached cityscapes and objects in the world around them as shapes and forms. De Barros’ Unilabor Chair (1954) is a silver gelatin print that depicts a crazy lattice of grey and ghostly intersecting lines and grids in an eerie, bare room. The image was made by overlapping several repeated film negatives of metal chairs and yet, though the chair shape is decipherable, we don’t view this photograph and think “chair.” Instead, we see an elegant trellis of lines. Joining the chair in the exhibition are stacks of clay pots, patio tables, lumberyards, construction sites and buildings, each abstracted, reduced to curious shapes and forms. They’re quite powerful.

But the best room is the last one. Just before rushing off to the gift shop to purchase a souvenir marking our laborious venture through all this abstract art, we visit a black room where several kinetic and interactive works cue our participation. Detecting our presence, Gregorio Vardanega’s Multiplication electronique III—a wooden grid box—lights up like Hollywood Squares, following a random sequence. As we press several more buttons around the room to activate other works, shapes and forms move. In the back corner, before exiting, the glimmer of Lygia Pape’s Tteia/Web barely catches the eye. Gold thread—stretched like guitar strings—extends, connecting two walls. From some angles, the web is invisible. And though minimal and abstract, it’s beautiful.

SITES OF LATIN AMERICAN ABSTRACTION MUSEUM OF LATIN AMERICAN ART • 628 ALAMITOS AVE • LONG BEACH 90802 • MUSEUM HOURS WED-SUN 11AM TO 5PM • THROUGH JAN 24 • MOLAA.ORG

Tags: art, Gregorio Vardanega, leo matiz, Long Beach, molaa, sites of latin american abstraction