CARACAS' ART AND EXHIBITIONS REPORT, NOVEMBER 2012

Luis Romero, founder of Oficina #1, the artist run space/gallery he runs with artist Suwon Lee and Aixa Sánchez, and which has become one of the only alternatives for contemporary critical thinking in Venezuela

exhibition view: Pedazos de Pais II (Fragments or of a Country part 2) curated by Luis Romero and Aixa Sánchez at Oficina #1

http://www.oficina1.com/pedazos-de-pais-ii


works by Suwon Lee and Rolando Peña


Suwon Lee's video, 'El Muerto no Tiene Dolientes' (the dead man has no one to mourn him)


Rolando Peña's 1980's silkscreen of an oil tower and Christian Vinck's portraits of Haitian mixed race president Petion, who supported Bolivar in the fight of independence of Bolivarian America

painting by Ivan Candeo

Irreversible Landscpaes by Luis Romero

documentation of performances by Erika Ordosgoiti

Oficina #1's tropical backyard

and the small warehouse where  Oficina #1 is located within Los Galpones complex in Caracas

Carmen Araujo Gallery at Hacienda la Trinidad in Caracas

Sandra Gamarra's political paintings at Carmen Araujo Gallery


and Carmen Araujo at her gallery

http://www.carmenaraujoarte.com/

Centro Cultural Chacao http://www.culturachacao.org/, designed by ODA Caracas

inside Centro Cultural Chacao, exhibition views of 'El Quinquenio' a retrospective of five years of exhibitions at independent space El Anexo, including works by Suwon Lee, Deborah Castillo, Ivan Candeo, Ángela Bonadies, Claudio Perna, Diego Barboza, Juan José Olavarría, Luis Romero, Muu Blanco, and others

works by Diego Barboza from the 70s at El Anexo's exhibition


and Felix Suazo and Nancy Farfan who run and curate el Anexo

http://www.elanexoarte.com/

ROBERTO BURLE MARX'S PARQUE DEL ESTE IN CARACAS

Roberto Burle Marx's Parque del Este

Burle Marx's organic plan for Parque del Este in Caracas

from World's Monument Fund:

The Brazilian artist and landscape architect Robert Burle Marx harmoniously integrated urban design, architecture, and nature at Parque del Este in the densely populated and developed city of Caracas. By 1958, the government had designated the east side of the valley in Caracas for a system of parks, and Marx was commissioned to design the 190-acre landscape. Parque del Este was completed in 1961 and became a verdant haven for its residents and visitors. The prominence of the park encouraged an appreciation for landscape, conservation, and the environment in the country. Internationally, it is regarded as a highly significant modernist landscape.

Unfortunately, in the last 30 years, the park has been subject to neglect and mismanagement. Fences and kiosks have been ingenuously placed throughout, and the original elements of the park—the plant life, roads, benches, and fountains—are in a state of decay. The most flagrant intervention in the Parque del Este is the placement of a vast, life-size ship (ten stories high) and museum on Lake 9. The local community has been attempting to halt the ongoing construction, and additional international support and recognition are needed in order to help restore the harmony and integrity of Parque del Este. 

Update:

The fountains, patios and tiles are still in renovation, a work that should have been finished in celebration of the bicentenary of Independence in 2011.

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read also Anita Berrizbeitia's text, Parque del Este Caracas: Between a Critical Naturalism and a Critical Formalism

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visit previous post, a visit to Sitio Burle Marx in Rio de Janeiro, here

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dedicated to curator Julieta Gonzalez, and to all my Venezuelan friends who can't walk in the park anymore