By Alidë Kohlhaas

Ultrabaroque: Aspects of Post-Latin American Art

An exhibition of a special nature has arrived at the Art Gallery of Ontario, much welcomed in the gloom of our wintry season. It has brought to our attention the work by artists from a different climate, both externally and internally.

Their art is vibrant in color and spirit. It is idiosyncratic and it is unmistakably Latino, regardless of the origin/location of the artist. There are 15 in all of them in the latest AGO exhibit by the above title. They represent seven countries, although none hale from Central America, and Argentina is conspicuous by its absence.

From Texas to Venezuela, and even transplanted from Spain, these artists are influenced by the peculiar marriage of Spanish and Portuguese baroque art with that of Native American cultures. This cultural meld had its beginnings with the conquistadors, who brought along their priests and nobles. They built their churches and palaces on top of ancient cultural edifices that the Europeans considered worthless or subversive because of their non-Christian, non-European imagery. Out of it was forged a style that even half a millennium later has left an indelible mark on every aspect of visual art—not to mention the music—in the various nations that eventually came into being once the last Spaniards and Portuguese rulers were expelled from the southern part of the Western Hemisphere.

The baroque aspect of this culture is only now slowly diminishing because international influences can no longer be held at bay. Movies, television, the Internet, all are helping to shape a new kind of art in the Latino world, from North America to the tip of the southern part of South America. Yet, it has retained, and surely always will retain, the reflection of the social and cultural conditions that are specific to each country in this cluster of the more southerly nations of our hemisphere.

Canadian art, despite influences from outside, has also kept, and I am certain always will keep, a definitively Canadian face. We may have more in common with our cousins south of the border than we have with the artists in this exhibition, but the nature of our institutions also inform our artists differently than they do those of the Americans. They, in turn, because they have a large Latino population, and because Texas, New Mexico and parts of California also underwent that peculiar meld of Spanish baroque with Native culture, have yet again become a different kind of cultural meld, which makes them peculiarly American.

This exhibition makes it clear, however, that the art of the Latino world has far more in common with that of the USA and Canada than it has with that of the old world. It is unmistakably art of the new world. At the beginning of this review it is stated that this art is vibrant, and so it is, but it is also at times dark because the conditions in some of these countries are dark. The huge extremes in both the political and social life of each of these countries stamps the works of many of the artists.

Unfortunately, no images are available of the very works that will be mentioned here. The images that are shown here, and which are not of the best quality, don't really reveal the impact that this exhibit has on one's senses. But, there can be no doubt, this is a show that must be seen. It originated at the Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego. Torontonians are fortunate to be able to benefit from the work of the curators at this Californian institution.

Let me start with some of the darker works. The Brazilian artist, Adriana Varejão, has four works in this exhibition. The now 38-year-old began around 1993 to create the kind of images that shake ones sensibilities. She tells the viewer in no uncertain terms how she views the violence, mutilation and dislocation that the onslaught of colonization brought to and created in her country. It is exceedingly hard to look at "Carpet-Style Tilework in Live Flesh", where she displays her fascination with historical porcelain and tile design associated with Portugal. This work is created out of oil, foam, aluminum, wood and canvas. Like her other works, "Meat à la Taunay" (1997), "Extirpation of Evil by Incision" (1995), and "Rack" (1993), Carpet-Style Tilework has to be seen to be understood, and once understood, it can be appreciated, though not necessarily loved.

Chilean Arturo Duclos, at 43 is one of the senior exhibitors in this show. His age reveals itself in his artful inclusion of social symbols, including of the Soviet era's hammer and sickle, on several of his canvases. They charm the viewer, but they also remind that the Marxist ideal had a strong impact on Chilean political life. There are four of his works that deserve close study.

The brothers Jamex (42) and Einar (39) de la Torre work in blown glass.  These Mexican artists combine found objects with their glass and create works that on firstviewing are very humorous, but on closer inspection tell us something about how they view the influence of religion on Mexican culture. They create an iconography that deals with death, drugs, gang warfare and violence, yet they do so entertainingly as the large blown glass and mixed media work "The Source: Virgins and Crosses, 1999" clearly shows. Their other work, "Serpent and Ladders", is a large Cross covered in glass shards, and takes as its theme the game, Snakes and Ladders. It is most impressive and one wishes, one had been allowed to take a photograph of it as the AGO had none at the time of the media viewing.

Photography is the medium used by Brazilian Rochelle Costi, 41. She has three large colour prints in this show that give us a view of three different kinds of bedrooms in São Paulo. It is left to the viewer to draw conclusions.

On the lighter side of this show is the work by Venezuelan José Antonio Hernándes-Diez, 38. His "Perfect Vehicles, numbered 4, 15, 19 and 26 are portraits of adolescents painted on skateboards. They are fun to view, but look very closely at the portraits. The artist is telling the viewer something that is much less fun than the skateboards.

On entering the exhibit, to the left, it is impossible to escape the large display of artificial, white lilies growing in clusters out of a white wall. Called "Cemetery - Vertical Garden , 1992-99", it is the work of Colombian artist Maria Fernanda Cardoso, 39. Again, look closer, behind the flowers. It is not difficult to imagine how this whimsical work is really a reminder of the disappearance and death that haunts Colombia through its drug culture, and the rebel forces, who exploit the people.

There is something very charming and enchanting about the draped gossamer silk hangings of Lia Menna Barrato, who was born in 1959. Yet, again, they are works with a dark undertone on closer inspection of the plastic toys and flowers that have been fused to the silk.

Spanish-born Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle used DNA chains to create 30 colourful plastic panels that marry abstraction and science in gorgeous imagery. For some, the DNA raises the deeper implication of identity and ethics in our world. For those, who enjoy and appreciate science without fear, they are simply a sign of beauty in the organization of the natural order, just as to mathematicians, the imagery of fractals creates boundless beauty when transposed onto paper and colour.

It is left to the individual whether one looks at all of these artistic works to seek meaning, or one just enjoys their playful vibrancy. Political art is not among this writer's favourite because it is usually used as propaganda. There is nothing more empty than political art created by some of our own artists, who venture overseas for a brief time on a Canada Council Grand and then use their superficial experiences to hammer down western culture and political systems. These Latino artists, however, all live or have lived for most of their lives in a world that is strewn with a dark political and social history. They know of what they speak, and they do it extremely well without preaching, without propagandizing.

One can go on and on describing the almost 80 works in this exhibition. But, one has to end this review eventually. So, the best thing one can say about this show, is:"Go and see it. It will stimulate you, exhilarate you, infuriate you and once again, exhilarate you."

José Antonio Hernándes-Diez:  Kant, 2000, Marx 2000

Ultrabaroque: Aspects of Post-Latin American Art at the AGO until April 28, 2002.

Copyright © 2002-8 CamKohl Arts Productions

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