POINT OF CONTACT-INK GEOGRAPHIES

T H E P O I N T O F C O N TACT GA L L E RY

Ink

geographies

OSCAR GARCÉS

CURATED BY PEDRO CUPERMAN

Ink

geographies

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012 - OCTOBER 20, 2012

This exhibit at The Point of Contact Gallery in Syracuse, New York, is made possible thanks to the generous support of Nancy Cantor, Chancellor of Syracuse University, Vice Chancellor Eric Spina, Dean George Langford of the College of Arts & Sciences, Dean Ann Clarke, of the College of Visual & Performing Arts, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Our sincere gratitude also to Jeffrey Hoone, Executive Director of the Coalition of Museum & Art Centers at Syracuse University.

The Point of Contact Gallery is a member of the Coalition of Museum and Art Centers at Syracuse University (CMAC).

geography no. 2 ink on foamboard (detail)

Pedro Cuperman

OSCAR GARCÉS: INK GEOGRAPHIES Garcés’ paintings are an exercise in color. Some are geometrical cutouts; others, geometries framed in symbolic figures.

When I first saw how Garcés prepared the present show, I immediately thought in 20th century abstract art, in geometric art, in the MADI movement. It seemed to me that this young artist, who probably had not heard of the Uruguayan Carmelo Arden Quin, sooner or later would end up joining the geometric artists of the forties in Latin America—as a coda, that is, or perhaps as a renewal of an art that in Latin America revolutionized, and still revolutionizes, spatial imagination.

In the gallery I expected to see regulated forms, the figures that today are a reference to abstract art. Garcés is a true son of that Latin America, and, as such, a concrete moment of the imagination that arrives, disappears, and returns. It is a consolidated modality of our history, but if we find in his work echoes, traces, I would say, of the simplicity and regulated, almost mystical, contemplation of Geometric Abstraction, after thinking it over I saw in Garcés’s chromatic fragments more the beat of a geography than of a geometry: the islands and maps of his personal history. And—why not say it?—, the poetic of fragmentation that Geometric Art took as a given. I understood that his rectangles, triangles, and chromatism embodied not only purity but also violence, which surely a disciple of Arden Quin would see in a good light like one of the many possible combinations… perhaps a necessary one.

translated by: José Sanjinés

OSCAR GARCÉS: GEOGRAFÍAS DE TINTA

Pedro Cuperman

Las pinturas de Garcés son un ejercicio del color. Algunas son recortes geométricos, otras geometrías enmarcadas de figuras simbólicas. Cuando por primera vez vi como Garcés preparaba la presente muestra pensé inmediatamente en los abstractos del siglo XX, en el arte geométrico, en el movimiento Madi. Me pareció que este joven artista seguramente no había oído hablar del Uruguayo Carmelo Arden Quin, pero tarde o temprano acabaría sumándose a los artistas geométricos de los años cuarenta en América Latina, o sea una coda, tal vez un rejuvenecimiento de un arte que en Latinoamérica revolucionó y todavía revoluciona la imaginación espacial. Esperaba volver a ver en las paredes de la galería las formas reguladas, las figuras que hoy son una referencia en la historia del arte abstracto del siglo XX. Garcés es hijo legítimo de esa América Latina, y como tal no ya una referencia sino un momento concreto de la imaginación que llega, desparece, y regresa. Una modalidad consolidada de nuestra historia Pero si bien hay en su obra ecos, trazos diría yo, de la simplicidad y la contemplación regulada, casi mística de los Geométricos, tras pensarlo mejor comprendí que en los fragmentos cromáticos de Garcés palpitaba más que una geometría una geografía: las islas, y mapas de su historia personal. Y, – ¿por que no decirlo?–, la poética de la fragmentación que el arte geométrico daba por sentado. Comprendí que los rectángulos y triángulos y el cromatismo encarnan no solo la pureza sino también la violencia, que seguramente un discípulo de Arden Quien vería con buenos ojos, como una de las tantas combinaciones posibles… quizá necesarias.

geography no. 9 ink on foamboard (detail)

geography no. 5 ink on foamboard (detail)

Journey Tere Paniagua

Feels like writing, but the artist is quick to make clear that it is not. Signs, representations...of what? A mental process, a journey, from diverse points of origin through our individual timelines, our personal twists and turns. As a script emerges, something is set free, though it leaves a mark, an imprint. The artist’s essential playground is a space to explore geometric archetypes that can only be found inside one another; all are one. A sacred mandala? Images contract and expand and there is order, not chaos. No more chaotic than life emerging from the womb, contraction, expansion; a beating heart, where life is felt, contraction, expansion… an ever expanding universe, contracts only to further expand.

We don’t know how to will it into action. A similar experience with ink takes form in this experiment by Oscar Garcés. It flows from a playful doodle, “el virus”, he calls it. And before you know it, connects with something else, an altered state of consciousness. Everything else disappears as it takes over.

Tere Paniagua

Viaje Parece escritura, pero el artista no tarda en señalar que no es así. Signos, representaciones… ¿de qué? Un proceso mental, un viaje, desde diversos puntos de origen, a través de nuestras fugas individuales, de nuestras idas y venidas.

Al nacer una escritura algo se libera, pero sin embargo deja una marca, una huella. El patio de recreo del artista es un espacio donde se exploran geometrías arquetípicas que sólo pueden hallarse una dentro de otra——todas distintas y la misma. ¿Una mandala sagrada? Las imágenes se expanden y contraen——hay orden, no caos. La obra no es más caótica que la vida misma que emerge de la matriz——contracción, expansión; un corazón que late, donde se siente la vida, contracción, expansión; un universo que se expande lentamente y se contrae para volver a expandirse aún mas. ¿Cómo generar esa sístole y diástole?

Una experiencia similar, en tinta, adquiere forma en este experimento de Oscar Garcés. Nace de un garabato juguetón, “el virus”, lo llama. Y sin darse uno cuenta, conecta con otra cosa, con otro estado de conciencia. Se apodera, y todo lo demás se desvanece.

traducido por: José Sanjinés

sphere no.1 foamboard sculpture (white)

geography no.1 ink on foamboard (foamboard instalation on background wall)

cube no.1 foamboard sculpture (black)

Oscar Garcés Born in Santiago de Cuba in 1987, Garcés came to the United States in 2000. During his years residing first in Florida, when he began to develop as a visual artist, Garcés received multiple recognitions, including a Golden Key Award for best portfolio by Scholastics. Later in Syracuse, Garcés won a “Best of Show” Award at the Community Folk Art Center in 2005. He has also shown his paintings at the Warehouse Gallery’s Window Project and at La Casita Cultural Center Gallery. Ink Geographies at The Point of Contact Gallery will be his first solo show.

Nacido en Santiago de Cuba en 1987, Garcés vino a los Estados Unidos en el año 2000. En sus primeros años residiendo en Florida cuando empezó a evolucionar como un artista visual, Garcés recibió múltiples reconocimientos, como el Golden Key Award de Scholastics. Luego en Syracuse, Garcés en el 2005 ganó el premio “Mejor del Show” del Community Folk Art Center. Garcés ha mostrado sus pinturas en el Warehouse Gallery Window Project y en la galería del Centro Cultural La Casita. Geografías de Tinta en la galería Point of Contact, será su primera muestra individual.

THE

POINT

OF

CONTACT

GALLERY

914 East Genesee Street, Syracuse, NY 13210 • Tel. 315.443.2169

www.puntopoint.org

director & curator Pedro Cuperman managing director Tere Paniagua assistant administrator Bailey Pfohl public relations & marketing assistant Patricio Vaisman graphic design Anna Sofía Font web development Matthew Les

The Other New York: 2012 is a community-wide, multi-venue biennial exhibition that is the result of a major collaboration among fourteen venues in Syracuse. This ambitious project aims to highlight the rich talent of artists across Upstate New York, with a special focus on Central New York and the surrounding counties. The project offers diverse arts venues and outdoor public spaces for contemporary creative expression on a scale not before seen in Syracuse. In addition, TONY: 2012 demonstrates the power of artistic partnerships to boost public awareness of the arts by presenting opportunities for the community to connect with exhibitions, programs, and events offered simultaneously throughout the city. The Other New York: 2012 is organized by the Everson Museum of Art in collaboration with ArtRage – The Norton Putter Gallery, Community Folk Art Center, Erie Canal Museum, Light Work, Onondaga Historical Association, PuntodeContacto/Point of Contact, Rosamond Gifford Zoo, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park, SUArt Galleries, Urban Video Project, The Warehouse Gallery, City of Syracuse and XL Projects.

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