The work of Edgar Negret and Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar represents two fundamental expressions within Latin American modern art, marked by the exploration and reinterpretation of form, space, and matter. Both artists, through their constant experimentation and reflective capacity on the cosmic and the earthly, invite us into a critical exercise on the structures of abstraction and their relationship with the landscape and Latin American identity.
"Cosmic and Territorial Geometries" is a traveling exhibition that had one of its venues at Universidad de La Sabana, where it sought to create a space for encounter and reflection on the sculptural legacy of these two great masters. The exhibition engages a crossing of territories, not only geographical but also philosophical, where art becomes a medium for dialogue between the Latin American cultural legacy and its contemporary projection.
Negret, with his innovative use of painted aluminum, offers an approach to the cosmic, to an abstract vision that, through his geometric and dynamic forms, seeks to represent the energy and movement of a constantly transforming universe. Works such as Sol and Mariposa Crisálida explore the relationship between cosmic energy and the smallness of human scale, evoking the perception of the infinite and the eternal through forms that seem to flow toward an abstract space without a defined boundary. His work establishes a parallel between the intangible nature of the cosmos and the tangible essence of sculpture, reminding us that in matter, the physical and the symbolic coexist.
Conversely, Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar introduces a radically different yet equally profound approach, centered on the reinterpretation of the earthly and the organic. Through the use of oxidized iron, Ramírez Villamizar creates works that seem to emerge from the ground, as if they were traces of an ancestral memory. Sculptures such as Aerolito and Untitled explore the passage of time, transformation, and the permanence of matter, where the oxidation of iron becomes a metaphor for lived history, a collective memory forged through the interaction between humanity and its environment. In his work, iron is not merely a material but a witness to evolution, to the passage of time, and to the symbiotic relationship between nature and culture.
This dialogue between the works of Negret and Ramírez Villamizar prompts a reflection on the construction of Latin American art and its connection to the essential elements of nature, history, and abstraction. While Negret projects himself towards a language that transcends the physical, alluding to the cosmic and the universal, Ramírez Villamizar returns to the earthly, to the primordial, inviting us to reconsider our relationship with the natural environment and the memory of the past. Both artists, although from different perspectives, lead us to reflect on the intersection between the human and the cosmic, the ephemeral and the eternal, the ancestral and the contemporary.
The encounter of Negret’s and Ramírez Villamizar’s works not only enriches the field of modern sculpture but also establishes a reflection on how art can serve as a means to explore identity, memory, and the perception of space, understanding the artwork as a point of convergence where multiple dimensions of being, nature, and history meet. In this way, the dialogue between both artists invites a profound immersion into the fundamental values of abstraction, into its ability to transcend the physical and connect with the cultural legacy that defines our region.
