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Hélio Oiticica, Untitled, from the series “Grupo Frente,” 1955, courtesy Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.

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 “Eight Squares,” 1961, by Gego, courtesy Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros.

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FOR 9/14

‘GEOMETRY OF HOPE’ AT NYC’S GREY ART GALLERY w/2 cuts

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NEW YORK CITY — “The Geometry of Hope: Latin American Abstract Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection,” a major exhibition comprising some 115 works of art from the Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CCPC), is on view at New York University’s Grey Art Gallery until December 8.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog providing a scholarly overview of Latin American Geometric Abstraction from the 1930s to the 1970s, and agenda of public programs taking place throughout NYU and co-sponsored by the Grey, including poetry, music, performance, lectures and panel discussions, in addition to a major symposium.

“The Geometry of Hope” was organized by the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin, where it was seen earlier this year and encompassed some 145 works. The exhibition and its catalog were the culminating project of the Cisneros Graduate Research Seminar at The University of Texas at Austin, a multiyear scholarly collaboration between the New York- and Caracas-based CPPC and the Blanton, headed by Gabriel Perez-Barreiro, curator of Latin American Art at the Blanton and organizer of the exhibition.

“The Grey Art Gallery is thrilled to present ‘The Geometry of Hope: Latin American Abstract Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection,’” said Grey Art Gallery director Lynn Gumpert. “This exhibition promises to be an eye-opening experience for our visitors, especially those for whom the term ‘modern Latin American art’ generally connotes figurative painting or political.”

Patricia Phelps de Cisneros adds, “‘The Geometry of Hope’ began with a scholarly collaboration between the Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and The University of Texas. We are delighted that the exhibition will now be featured at another major university, in one of the cultural capitals of the world.”

“The Geometry of Hope” focuses on key cities in the development of abstraction in the Americas: Montevideo, 1930s; Buenos Aires, 1940s; Sao Paulo, 1950s; Rio de Janeiro, 1950s–60s; Paris, 1960s, and Caracas, 1960s–70s.

In tracing the flow of ideas from one socio-geographic context to another, the exhibition challenges the view of Latin American art as a single phenomenon, revealing important differences and tensions among various artistic proposals articulated during the decades under examination.

For example, Joaquin Torres-Garcia’s fusion of ancient American art with neoplasticism was roundly rejected by the next generation of ardent Marxists in Argentina. And the rational and internationalist aspirations of the Sao Paulo concretists of the 1950s were reinterpreted and charged with specific Brazilian references by the neoconcretists in Rio de Janeiro.

The exhibition’s inclusion of Paris as a “Latin American” city underscores the cosmopolitan and international nature of Latin American abstraction — characteristics that are often ignored in American and European accounts of the history of modern art.

The exhibition includes works by approximately 30 artists, including Joaquin Torres-Garcia, from Montevideo; Alfredo Hlito and Tomas Maldonado from Buenos Aires; Geraldo de Barros and Waldemar Cordeiro from Sao Paulo; Helio Oiticica and Lygia Clark from Rio de Janeiro; and Jesus Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez from Paris and Caracas.

NYU and The University of Texas have collaborated to present a major two-part symposium in conjunction with the exhibition. Part One brought distinguished international scholars to Austin on February 17, 2007. Part Two will take place on Friday, October 5. Among the participants will include Ruben Gallo, professor, Department of Spanish, Princeton University; Valerie Hillings, assistant curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Ariel Jimenez, curator, Coleccion Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Caracas and New York; Gabriel Perez-Barreiro; Liliana Porter, visual artist; and Luis Perez-Oramas,.

The gallery is at 100 Washington Square East. For information, 212-998-6780 or www.nyu.edu/greyart.