Carlos Rojas at the Museo Rayo

The personal exhibition by Carlos Rojas at the Museo Rayo in Roldanillo (Valle del Cauca, Colombia) surveys the artistic production of an artist that pioneered minimalism and abstraction in Colombia, explored assemblage and was a sophisticated collector of objects. This exhibition presents works from the different periods and series (1968 to 1994) that characterized his oeuvre, showcasing one of Colombia´s most influential artists and the visual interests that are now reflected in the processes of several young contemporary artists. The show includes works from series like "Mutants," "Intertwined," "Engineering of Vision," and "Horizons," as well as iron sculptures that account for an important period in Colombian Art. Carlos Rojas materializes abstract characteristics of geometry; elements like the line, the straight line, the point and volume are extracted from mathematics to assert material conditions. In this manner, he approaches assemblage to experiment with certain visual effects: A plank, a door, or a wooden rail suddenly acquire geometric possibilities that they would not otherwise have within their functional universe. Another characteristic of these works is the manner in which texture generates compositions on the plane, while the works do not hide the origin of the materials and encourage viewers to gaze at them from afar and up close. The exhibited paintings explore horizons and urban outlines in rationalist projections that mutate as result of the housing contingencies of cultures and the organic development of the city, underscoring the manner in which the line interacts with the natural world. There is in these works a reciprocal influence that plays with a referential abstraction; the compositions move from this world into another in a constant interaction. Planes, intersections and straight lines speak of the mundane as Rojas endeavors to create a new vision. Titles like Ingeniería de la Visión (Engineering of Vision), Pueblos (Towns) and Horizontes (Horizons) address current questions about the Latin American perspective on the development of countries and optical science. The untitled iron sculptures demonstrate Rojas's interest on incorporating landscape in his compositions; the volume of the lines rendered in the space intervene the landscape and add complexity to the relationship between the work and its support—which is territory in this instance—traversed by lines. This exhibition at the Museo Rayo offers viewers a look into the most paradigmatic work by Carlos Rojas. The curatorship by Miguel González intercalates different periods and series to generate a retrospective look that activates the different meanings found in Rojas's artistic process.