NYAB Event - Carlos Rojas “A Retrospective Exhibition”

Carlos Rojas “A Retrospective Exhibition”

Nohra Haime Gallery

[Image: Carlos Rojas "UNTITLED, AMERICA CRUZADOS SERIES" (1982) acrylic on canvas, 31 1/2 x 94 1/2 in.]

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Major Colombian artist Carlos Rojas’ first retrospective exhibition in New York will take place at the Nohra Haime Gallery. Considered one of the most representative Colombian artists of the 20th Century, Rojas’ constructive strength and curiosity in Nature’s mechanisms are celebrated in this striking exhibition. Carlos Rojas: A Retrospective Exhibition assembles Rojas’ transcendental artistic essence through a journey of his work, his life, and his spirit.

Rojas was born in 1933 in Facatativá, Colombia. He studied Art and Architecture in Bogotá, later travelling to Rome to specialize in Fine Arts and Design. At the age of 25, he represented Colombia in both the Venice Biennale and the Mexico Biennial of 1958.

During his pursuit of knowledge in natural forms and structures, and of things that move one’s spirit, Rojas adopted geometry as his language. His first approach toward formal art utilized his early academic training as an architect, and began with collages reminiscent of American cubism. Serie Papeles Pegados, Cabeza 1 (c.a. 1959-60) is a prime example of this period. Rojas understood his art in a deeply spiritual and philosophical way. One of his main interests, the simultaneous path of the past, present and future, finds its depiction in the crossing lines of the canvas projected before our eyes, intertwined in a way that seems infinite. The gaps in the world and our system are metaphorically represented in the hiatuses of his work, such as in Serie Americas, Horizontes 6 (no date).

Rojas centered his art on personal spirituality, conducted through the artist’s look into a sacred world where he performed his main purpose: creation. His research processes were profound, often focused in diverse fields. In his American period, he analyzed with an audacious perspective the history of South America, specifically the Andean culture. In A Retrospective Exhibition, works such as Serie Americas, Cruzados, 5 (c.a. 1984) belong to the series Cruzados, where he used the symbol of a cross to relay his perception of the world as a bi-dimensional structure with only horizontal and vertical lines. Horizontes also belongs to the American period, but is centered in the exploration of color through the landscape and fabrics of the Andean region, a purely horizontal vision (Sin Titulo, Serie America, Horizontes [1970]).

The work of Carlos Rojas has been exhibited internationally and is part of major public and private collections. He died in 1997 in Bogotá, leaving behind an artistic legacy that is still acclaimed, studied and collected across the world.