Each year, Rhina Avilés, President of the Patronato Pro-Culturaof this Central American country, curates an exhibition of Latin American painting and sculpture in the Espacio Gallery in San Salvador in an attempt to promote awareness and knowledge of the valuable work being done by artists in the continent. Between September and October 1998, Avilés managed to bring together a group of works that made up the ninth edition of this event. This year, the special guest was the well-known Spanish artist Manolo Valdés, who currently resides in New York,
The activity centering on this event is oriented towards the education of the public and a good number of young artists who are keen to learn about the art of other countries through representative artists living outside this small country. Although San Salvador is indeed the smallest country in the isthmus, it has an intense artistic and cultural activity; painter Roberto Galicia, is doing a fine job as head of the National Council for Culture and the Arts. Thanks to him, the capital San Salvador now has an extraordinary and dignified National Exhibition Hall, which was recently restored. Each year, the Latin American show is eagerly anticipated. The ninth edition was of very high quality.
The selection of artists, as always, depends on the critical eye of the organizer. Without a doubt, the search for artists and works that make a significant contribution to the overall objective is a task that takes up the year. Although organized by a private gallery, each edition of the event has benefited from a museum-style curatorial structure. This is reflected not only in the quality of the works but in the educational nature of the activities organized within the framework of the exhibition, which seek to promote the training and development of art collectors, enabling them to acquire works that make substantial contributions to the contemporary art of Latin America. Young and old come together in activities that encourage enthusiasm for the work of artists who are beacons of the creative spirit.
As always, the show was essentially a tribute to figurative painting and sculpture with the exception of one or two works of an abstract kind, as in optical works like Omar Rayo’s which confirmed that his explorations in this field have lost none of their validity. Three generations could be identified: the masters, including Fernando Botero, Alejandro Aróstegui, and Benjamín Cañas. Sergio Camporeale, Agustín Cárdenas, José Luis Cuevas, Delia Cugat, Armando Morales, Elmar Rojas, Jorge Duarte, Fernando de Szyszlo, Carlos Cañas, Gerardo Chávez, and Benjamín Saúl; an intermediate generation, including Elba Damast, Ana Mercedes Hoyos, Julio Larraz, Jiménez Deredia, Carlos Quintana, Oscar Soles, Jorge Tamayo, Inés Tor, Peter von Artens, Tomás Sánchez, Abigail Varela, Ernesto León, Alfredo Castañeda and Ignacio Iturria —artists whose prestige has now been consolidated. There was also a group of younger artists such as la Negra Álvarez, Antonio Bonilla, Carlos Capelán, Walter Iraheta, Armando Lara Hidalgo, Ricardo Maffei, Javier Marín, Fernando Salazar, Trino Sánchez, Verónica Vides, and Paloma Torres. I should like finally to mention the extraordinary presence of the sculptor Marisol, whose work was truly outstanding amongst those presented in the show.
Without contradictions, and imbued with her sense of commitment to her times, Avilés is aware of the importance of the Latin American show in the Central American art scene in the process of constructive consolidation.
In its constant search and encounter with new artistic faces, this annual Latin American event possesses a constantly renewed sense of freshness. It is a visual dialogue in which each work defends itself in terms of its own values, allowing the specialist to make relevant comparisons. The ninth edition of the show, worthy of the best of the museums, was a clear example of the conception and action exerted by the extraordinary strength of Latin American art today. As an act of joyful dedication, the exhibition organized each year by the Espacio Gallery is encouraging this encounter of Latin American art and artists.
BÉLGICA RODRÍGUEZ