1961-1969
20th century
A01=Maria C. Gaztambide
Abstract
aesthetics
Anti Art
Art Collective
Art Terrorism
Author_Maria C. Gaztambide
Caracas
Caribbean art
Category=AGA
Category=DSBH
changing lives and transforming society
chaos
Contemporary
culture
dystopian
El Techo de la Ballena: Retro Modernity in Venezuela
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
Exhibitions
Global Informalism
Latin American
Latin American History
Literary group
MOMA
Political Art
political growth
politically engaged publications and provocative exhibitions
Politics and art
socioeconomic
symbolism
The Roof of the Whale
twentieth
Venezuela
Venezuelan Avant-Garde
whale symbolism
Product details
- ISBN 9781683400707
- Weight: 558g
- Dimensions: 157 x 231mm
- Publication Date: 30 Jan 2019
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The work of the 1960s Caracas-based art collective El Techo de la Ballena (The Roof of the Whale) was called ""subversive"" and ""art terrorism"" and seen as a threat to Venezuela’s national image as an emerging industrial power. This volume details the historical and social contexts that shaped the collective, exploring how its anti-art aesthetic highlighted the shortcomings of the country’s newfound oil wealth and transition to democracy.
Every element used by these radicalized artists in their avant-garde exhibitions?from Informalist canvases to torn book pages and kitsch objects to cattle carcasses and scatological content?issued a critique of Venezuela’s petroleum-driven capitalism and the profound inequality left in its wake. Embracing chaos, the artists contradicted the country’s politically sanctioned view of modernity, which championed constant progress in the visual arts and favored geometric abstraction and kinetic art. El Techo's was a backward?a retrograde?modernity, argues María Gaztambide, discussing how its artists turned against the norm by incorporating anachronistic postures, primeval symbols, colonial Latin American print culture, and ""guerilla"" art tactics.
Artists in this group tested limits to provoke what they saw as a numbed local public through shocking displays of criticism and frustration. Today, as Venezuela undergoes another dramatic series of sociopolitical changes, El Techo de la Ballena serves as a reminder of the power of art in resisting the status quo and effecting change in society.
Every element used by these radicalized artists in their avant-garde exhibitions?from Informalist canvases to torn book pages and kitsch objects to cattle carcasses and scatological content?issued a critique of Venezuela’s petroleum-driven capitalism and the profound inequality left in its wake. Embracing chaos, the artists contradicted the country’s politically sanctioned view of modernity, which championed constant progress in the visual arts and favored geometric abstraction and kinetic art. El Techo's was a backward?a retrograde?modernity, argues María Gaztambide, discussing how its artists turned against the norm by incorporating anachronistic postures, primeval symbols, colonial Latin American print culture, and ""guerilla"" art tactics.
Artists in this group tested limits to provoke what they saw as a numbed local public through shocking displays of criticism and frustration. Today, as Venezuela undergoes another dramatic series of sociopolitical changes, El Techo de la Ballena serves as a reminder of the power of art in resisting the status quo and effecting change in society.
María C. Gaztambide is associate director of the International Center for the Arts of the Americas at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
