OUT OF LINE
A Pop-Up Exhibition Drawn from the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Curated by MINUS SPACE
December 13-15, 2013
Opening Reception: Friday, December 13, 6-8pm
Exhibition Talk: Sunday, December 15, 2pm
Location:
525 W. 20th Street, NYC
Gallery Hours:
Friday, December 13, 10am-12pm & 1-5pm
Saturday & Sunday, December 14-15, 11am-12pm & 1-4pm
Participating Artists:
Hércules Barsotti, Feliza Bursztyn, Omar Carreño, Willys de Castro,
Gego, Judith Lauand, Juan Melé, Rubén Núñez, Hélio Oiticica,
Alejandro Otero, Luiz Sacilotto, Ivan Serpa, Jean Tinguely
The Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) is proud to partner with MINUS SPACE for
this brief presentation of a selection of abstract art from Latin America. The CPPC is a ‘museum without walls’, a collection dedicated to generating thought and knowledge about the material culture and heritage of Latin America. As such, the collection travels extensively around the world, and also sponsors an active publication and research program. MINUS SPACE, as a network of artists and fans of geometric abstraction, is a perfect partner for this first ‘pop-up’ show in New York, and we are extremely grateful to Matthew Deleget and Rossana Martinez for their enthusiasm and vision.
–Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, Director and Chief Curator, CPPC
MINUS SPACE is pleased to present Out of Line, the first pop-up exhibition organized in collaboration with the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros. Out of Line highlights nearly thirty historical works — including painting, drawing, works on paper, and sculpture — by thirteen artists, primarily South American, who spent the greater part of their lives investigating the language of reductive abstraction during one of its most fertile periods, from the late 1940s through the early 1980s.
Beginning with Colombian artist Feliza Bursztyn’s raucous, stainless steel sculpture Sin título (de la serie Histéricas) (1967) as our point of departure, we selected art works for this exhibition that possess a kind of human disposition. Although geometric upon first appearance, the works are not platonic by nature and depict virtually no hard dominant shapes, severe right angles, rigorous mathematical patterns, or industrial precision. Rather, works are made gingerly by hand and reflect a range of human qualities and emotions. They can feel optimistic, humorous, heady, intimate, mysterious, and political.
Similar to us as individuals, these art works strongly convey a sense of becoming, rather than being. Their forms are unabashedly animated. They stand, lean, bend, sway, twirl, tremble, and tumble. Brought together into the context of a single exhibition space, they form a vigorous and shifting social dynamic akin to a live stage performance, energetic children’s playground, or bustling subway platform.
We are deeply grateful to Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, Skye Monson, and the staff of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros for inviting us to collaborate with them on an exhibition drawn from their unparalleled collection. It’s a personal honor and a once-in-a-life- time experience for us as artists and founders of MINUS SPACE.
–Matthew Deleget & Rossana Martínez
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COLECCIÓN PATRICIA PHELPS DE CISNEROS
Established in the 1970s by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Gustavo A. Cisneros, the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC) is one of the main educational and cultural initiatives of the Fundación Cisneros.
With headquarters in New York City and Caracas, the CPPC works to increase the major recognition of the diversity, specificity and production of Latin American art and culture, in addition to fostering excellence in arts education and supporting Latin American arts professionals.
