Young Polesello 1958-1974

A year after the death of Rogelio Polesello, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano in Buenos Aires (MALBA) pays tribute to the Argentine artist with the exhibition titled "Young Polesello 1958-1974," curated by Mercedes Casanegra. The exhibition will remain open to the public from June 25 – October 12, 2015. The exhibition "Young Polesello 1958-1974" began to take shape in 2012, when a team from the museum headed by Victoria Giraudo, managing coordinator of curatorships, and Josefina Barcia, assistant curator at the curatorial department, initiated research work on the archival material pertaining to Polesello that has been part of the institution since 1957. Because of the wealth of archival material found—including photographs, manuscripts, newspaper articles, brochures, books and correspondence, among other things—it became necessary to initiate an organizing and cataloging process that was coordinated by Veronica Rossi. According to Victoria Giraudo, "Besides the material already known to the researchers, Polesello added boxes and folders with personal information, and also arranged for a special work area at his home. He was always very enthusiastic about the project and he readily provided personal information and insight, along with ideas about how he wanted the exhibition to be." The research process allowed for the "Young Polesello 1958-1974" exhibition to focus on Polesello's artistic development from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s—the early period of his career—and on some aspects of his career not well studied before, like his participation in the art-design-industry triad and his experimentation with the multiple relationships between art, architecture, design, film and fashion. The exhibition brings together a selection of 120 pieces from the collections of several public and private institutions, including: the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogota (MAMBO), the Museo del Arte del Banco de la República de Colombia, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (MNBA), the Museo de Arte Moderno in Buenos Aires (MAMBA), the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo in Buenos Aires (MACBA), and the Museos de Arte MBA-MAC in Bahía Blanca, among others. According to Mercedes Casanegra, curator of the exhibition, "The young Polesello immersed himself into the development of geometric abstraction and optical art in Argentina in an autonomous and original manner, freely interpreting those two categories. His work was characterized for an exploration of motion within the static, for his challenging of perception through oscillations between the figure and the background, for combining order and randomness, and for his bold use of color, a trademark of his constant originality throughout his entire artistic career." The exhibition is divided into five thematic cores: -The first begins with his early work: geometric abstraction monoprints, inks, watercolors and oil paintings from 1958 and 1959. -The second thematic core presents large works from the early 1960s, standing out among these the first explorations with air guns and overlays, which Polesello used as templates to generate the color vibrations of freer abstractions. This category includes a five meter mural (1960-1966), never before exhibited. -The third category covers the years 1964 to 1966, and centers on the paintings that participated in the 2nd American Biennial of Art, Industrias Kaiser (Córdoba, 1964), the Esso Award (Washington, 1965) and the 8th São Paulo Biennial (1965). It is also a time in which he moved freely between painting, graphic design, textiles and objects. This section includes a display case with tapestries created for the Galería del Sol and graphic design work for publications like El Arte de Tejer, Tiempo de Cine, art poster...