Cv Alejandro Otero Eng
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ALEJANDRO OTERO (Bolívar, Venezuela, 1921 - Caracas, Venezuela, 1990) Alejandro Otero was one of the most influential Venezuelan artists of the twentieth century, who became prominent for the re-evaluation of the relations between light, space, and perception throughout his career. From 1939 to 1945 he studied painting, sculpture, glassworks and art education at the National School of Arts of Caracas. From 1946 to 1952 he lived in Paris thanks to a state scholarship, and it was in his series known as Cafeteras where he abandoned figuration for geometric abstraction. Thanks to it, he became a part of Los Disidentes, a group of Venezuelan artists living in France that sought to renovate the art of their country where they born. In 1955, the artist developed the series Coloritmos, modular paintings in rectangular formats, made with modern materials such as the automotive lacquer, applied with spray guns over wooden or plexiglass surfaces. The idea was to immerse the spectator into a constructive process where rhythms and spaces become the same, extending beyond the paintings themselves. Soon, he was dedicated to the research and exploration of civic sculptures, a result of his continuous interest on the spatial and social relationships of artworks. After all, for Otero, art represented “a personal drama in which modern man might recognize his image.” In this sense, he was a part of the artists that realized works for the University City of Caracas. He was also vice president of the National Institute of Culture and Fine Arts of Venezuela from 1964 to 1966, and in 1971 he obtained the Guggenheim Memorial Foundation scholarship for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which allowed him to continue his inquiry about sculptures in public spaces. SOLO EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION) 2016 Cronología y obra de Alejandro Otero, Museo Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela 2013 Resonant space: The Colorythms of Alejandro Otero, Pinacoteca do Estado de Sâo Paulo, Brazil 2009 Graphics from Otero. PDVSA, Centro de Arte La Estancia, Caracas, Venezuela 2008 Alejandro Otero. Drawings. Ideobox Artspace, Florida, USA 2005 Alejandro Otero, pulso y latido, Alejandro Otero, Caracas, Venezuela 2002 A la altura del tiempo: Cafeteras de Alejandro Otero, Fundación Banco Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela 1999 Solo quisiera ser puntual. El tiempo en la pintura de Alejandro Otero, Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela 1993 Alejandro Otero 1921-1990, Fundación Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Bolívar, Venezuela 1991 Alejandro Otero: Las estructuras de la realidad, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela 21st Bienal de São Paulo, Sâo Paulo, Brazil Alejandro Otero: Las estructuras de la realidad, Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela 1985 Alejandro Otero: Permaneciendo (Retrospective), Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber. Caracas, Venezuela 1976 Alejandro Otero’s Sculptures. Audiovisual and sculpture’s maquettes. Venezuelan Government’s Center for Information and Tourism, New York, USA Exposición Retrospectiva de Alejandro Otero, Museo de Arte Moderno de México, Mexico City, Mexico 1975 Alejandro Otero: A Retrospective Exhibition, Austin Museum of Art, Texas, USA 1965 Alejandro Otero, Sala de Exposiciones, Fundación Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela 1964 Alejandro Otero: ensamblajes y encolados 1961/1964, Sala de Exposiciones, Fundación Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela 1961 Retrospective: Coloritmos and Paris’s Reliefs, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela 1957 Alejandro Otero’s Coloritmos, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela 1949 Alejandro Otero: Cafeteras 1945-1948, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas / Taller Libre de Arte / Caracas Instituto Pedagógico Caracas, Venezuela 1947 Dibujos de Alejandro Otero (Drawings from Alejandro Otero), Librería La Francia, Caracas, Venezuela Alejandro Otero: Still Life, Themes and Variations. Works realized in Paris between 1946 and 1948, Hall of the Americas, PanAmerican Union, Washington D.C., USA GROUP EXHIBITIONS (SELECTION) 2018 Latinoamérica: Volver al futuro, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, Argentina Contesting Modernity: Informalism in Venezuela, 1955-1975, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Texas, USA 2017 Kinesthesia: Latin American Kinetic Art, 1954-1969, Palm Springs Art Museum, California, USA 2016 The Illusive Eye: An International Survey on Kinetic and Op art, El Museo del Barrio, New York, USA 2014 Impulse, Reason, Sense, Conflict, Cisneros Fountanals Art Foundation, Florida, USA 2013 Intersections, Museum of Lantin American Art, California, USA Reflexiones en torno a la abstracción geométrica latinoamericana y sus legados, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain 2011 Embracing Modernity: Venezuelan Geometric Abstraction, Philip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science / Florida International University, Florida, USA 2006 Cruce de miradas: visiones de América Latina, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico 2005 Diálogos. Arte Latinoamericano desde la Colección Cisneros, Museo de Arte Moderno, Bogotá, Colombia 2004 Arte venezolano del siglo XX, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas / Museo de arte Moderno Jesus Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela Inverted Utopias. Avant-garde Art in Latin American, Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH), Texas, USA Das MoMA in Berlin. Mesiterwerke aus dem, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Nueva York, EUA / Gallery of National Art, Berlin, Germany 2004 The Heroic century: The Museum of Modern Art Masterpieces, 200 paintings and Sculptures, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Texas, USA 2003 Geometrías. Abstracción Geométrica Latinoamericana, Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Bueno Aires, Argentina 2002 Sala Mendoza 1956-2001. 45 años de historia del arte contemporáneo en Venezuela, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela Paralelos. Arte Brasileiro da segunda metade do seculo XX em contexto, Museo de Arte Moderno de São Paulo/Museo de Arte Moderno de Río de Janeiro, Brazil 2001 Abstracción geométrica: Arte latinoamericano en la Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Fundación Cisneros, Harvard University Museum of Art, Massachusetts, USA Reacción y polémica en el arte venezolano, Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela 2000 Heterotopias. Medio siglo sin lugar, 1918-1968, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain 1999 Dynamic Oppositions. Venezuelan Constructive Art from the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, Tha Jack S. Blanton Museum, Texas, USA Del siglo que se va. Doce artistas del XX, Espacio Unión, Caracas, Venezuela 1997 Represents Venezuela in the I Bienal de Artes Visuales del Mercosur, Porto Alegre, Brazil 1995 Una visión del arte contemporáneo venezolano, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas Sofía Imber, Caracas, Venezuela 1994 Otero, Soto, Cruz-Diez: tres maestros del abstraccionismo en Venezuela y su proyección internacional, Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela 1993 Art d´Amerique Latine. 1911-1968, Musée National d’Art Moderne/Centre Nacional de Artes y Cultura Georges Pompidou, Paris, France Latin American Artists of the Twentieth Century, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, USA 1991 From Torres Garcia to Soto, Organization of American States, Washington D.C, USA 1989 Jord och Frihet. Latinamerikansk konst, 1830-1970. National Museum, and Modern art Museum, Stockholm, Sweden 1988 La imaginación de la transparencia, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela Latinamerican Spirits: Art and Artists in the U.S. 1920-1970, Bronx Art Museum, New York, USA 1985 Obras actuales de premios nacionales. Galería Universitaria de Arte, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela 1984 Museo de Bellas Artes: adquisiciones y donaciones, 1982-1983, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela Nuevas adquisiciones 1981-1984 (New Acquisitions 1981-1984). Museo de Arte Moderno Fundación Jesús Soto, Ciudad Bolívar, Venezuela Exposición Internacional. In representation of Venezuela, Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico 1979 Un siglo de paisaje en la pintura venezolana, Center for Interamerican Relations, New York, USA Arte constructivo venezolano: 1945-1965, génesis y desarrollo, Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, Venezuela 1978 Geometría sensivel, Museo de Arte Moderno de São Paulo, Brazil Arte iberoamericano de hoy, Museo de Bellas Artes and Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Venezuela 1976 Brought to Light: Recent Acquisitions in Latin American Art, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), Texas, USA Los artistas y Olivetti, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas, Caracas, Venezuela / Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City / Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico 1975 Homage to the Escuela de Artes Plásticas y Aplicadas de Caracas, 1975, Sala de Exposiciones de la Gobernación del Distrito Federal, Caracas, Venezuela 1972 Multiple Interaction Team, Science and Industry Museum, Chicago, Illinois / The Art and Sciences Palace of San Francisco, California / Cincinnati Center for Contemporary Arts, Ohio / Art Museum of New Orleans, Louisiana / Franklin Institute Science Museum, Pennsylvania / St. Petersburg Fine Arts Museum, Florida / New York Science Pavillion, New York / The California Science and Industry Museum, California, USA Escrituras, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela Colecciones privadas en Venezuela: 57 obras de la Colección de Carlos Raúl Villanueva, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela 1970 El museo y el diseño 1959-1970, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela Obras cubistas y collages II, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas,