NYAB Event - Oswaldo Vigas “Transfiguration”

Oswaldo Vigas “Transfiguration”

Dillon Gallery

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Oswaldo Vigas is widely considered a living legend of Latin American modernism. This long overdue New York exhibition comprises 15 works that exemplify his signature combination of geometry, abstraction and Latin culture. Some of the paintings will be part of a three-year traveling retrospective that begins this July at the Museum of Modern Art (MAMBO) in Bogotá, Colombia, and will travel to Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; and several other major cities. A new book about Vigas’s work, featuring commentary by several international critics, is also forthcoming.

Vigas was born in Valencia, Venezuela in 1926. He first rose to international recognition 60 years ago. Soon after he relocated to France in 1952 for studies at L’Ecole des Beaux Arts and Sorbonne University, his work was featured in the Venice Biennial in 1954, and again in 1962. While in Paris, he absorbed the lessons of the foremost European artist of the day and developed his own, distinctly Latin, approach to modernism.

While he was emerging internationally as an artist, Vigas played an active role in the radical politics of his native Venezuela. He took part in the writing of the Manifiesto de los Intelectuales, which opposed the dictatorial government of President Marcos Pérez Jiménez. He resigned his post as cultural attaché to France and returned to Venezuela to organize protests.

Vigas’s work has been featured in over 100 exhibitions worldwide. He has received countless national and international recognitions, including The National Visual Arts Award; The Arturo Michelena Award, The John Boulton Award, The Latinness Award, granted by the Latin Union of Venezuela; The Great S.A.S Prince Rainier the 3rd of Monaco Prize; The National Armando Reverón Award; and the AICA 2008 Award, in the Established Artists category, given by the International Art Critics Association of Venezuela. He has also been honored with The Andrés Bello Order in its first class feature; The Francisco de Miranda Order; and the Sol de Carabobo Order.

Vigas has been named a Gentleman from the Arts and Letters Order of France and holds the Order of Merit and Devotion of France; the Order of the City of Valencia; the Pedro Ángel González Visual Arts Medal; the Order of Universidad Central de Venezuela; the Honoris Causa PhD from Universidad de Los Andes and the title of Commendatory of the Arts and Letters Order of France, among others.

Aside from his own work, he has been an important cultural promoter. Among his achievements are his roles as Cultural Aggregate of Venezuela in Paris; Cultural Director at Universidad de Los Andes, in Mérida, Venezuela; creator and organizer of the First International Music Festival of Mérida and the First Latin American Documentary Film Festival, as well as one of the most active promoters for the creation of Museo de Arte Moderno de Mérida, now called Juan Astorga Anta.