Art Museum of the Americas

Art Museum of the Americas AMA | Art Museum of the Americas We promote social change by providing a lively space for educational exchange, new ideas, and creative expression.
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Located just steps from the Washington Monument and the White House, AMA | Art Museum of the Americas of the OAS is a hub for contemporary art produced in and about the Western Hemisphere. Within and beyond our gallery walls, we enrich our local and international communities by interconnecting artists, museums, and audiences across the Americas. Twitter:
Blog: AMAmuseum.org/blog.html

On this day in 2013, Portraits of Power: Works by Alejandro Almaraz of Argentina opened at the OAS AMA F Street Gallery....
11/06/2023

On this day in 2013, Portraits of Power: Works by Alejandro Almaraz of Argentina opened at the OAS AMA F Street Gallery. The exhibition ran from November 6, 2013-January 31, 2014.

Since 2006, AMA’s F Street gallery has aimed to further promote OAS values of social progress and cultural exchange through the visual arts. Continuing along this path, Almaraz’s examinations of popular authority figures encourages conversation on vital OAS interests such as democracy as the cornerstone of a constructive society, electoral process, and good governance.

Almaraz ’s source material is official portraits of his subject. Each of his works is formed by numerous portraits, layered over one another. These composites, comprised of anywhere between four and 40 translucent images, on one hand demonstrate how varying the ‘truths’ conveyed in a photographic image can be depending on changes in the pose and angle of the sitter, costume and other seemingly small details. At the same time, that the final images are recognizable at all is telling in a whole other sense.

Rene Portocarrero (Cuba, b.1912, d.1985)Figures in Yellow (detail), 1952Oil on canvas, 35 x 25"OAS AMA | Art Museum of t...
11/05/2023

Rene Portocarrero (Cuba, b.1912, d.1985)
Figures in Yellow (detail), 1952
Oil on canvas, 35 x 25"
OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas Collection
Gift of Joseph Cantor

On this day in 1956, the exhibition René Portocarrero and Raúl Milián of Cuba concluded its month-long run at the OAS Main Building Gallery, precursor to the present-day AMA.

“An outstanding figure in the generation which initiated the modern art movement in Cuba,” in the words of José Gómez Sicre, Portocarrero first drew acclaim for his paintings of intimate interiors and architectural details that recalled the golden years of colonial Havana. Among the leading figures of the second-generation vanguardia, he explored the poetics of color and baroque line, his horror vacui manifested in ornate, expressionist chromatics. In the early 1950s, Portocarrero’s work turned toward abstraction. An outstanding example of Portocarrero’s brief engagement with abstraction, Figures in Yellow distills its subject through a series of gridded lines, intimating the body through a scaffolding of curved and angular forms. Jewel-toned triangles of color—red, yellow, green, brown— reference his earlier paintings of stained glass windows and, no less, their debt to the brilliant vitrales painted by the elder-generation vanguardia artist Amelia Peláez, with whom Portocarrero is often associated.

Francisco Amighetti (Costa Rica, b.1907, d.1998)In the Bus, circa 1934Woodcut, 4x5 1/2"Private CollectionOn this day in ...
11/04/2023

Francisco Amighetti (Costa Rica, b.1907, d.1998)
In the Bus, circa 1934
Woodcut, 4x5 1/2"
Private Collection

On this day in 1943, the exhibition Watercolors and Drawings by Francisco Amighetti Ruíz opened at the Pan American Union Building Gallery, later the OAS Main Building Gallery, precursor to the present-day AMA. The exhibition of Amighetti’s works ran from November 4-22, 1943.

In the Bus is believed to be part of "Album de Grabados," published in Costa Rica in 1934 by the Imprenta Nacional. This anthological album, a central work of Costa Rican art, included woodcuts by Francisco Amighetti, Francisco Zúniga, Manuel de la Cruz González, Carlos Salazar Herrera, Gilbert Laporte, Teodorico Quirós and Adolfo Sáenz. The artists were influenced by the woodcuts of artists such as Der Bucker (German) and Francisco Leal and Francisco Diaz de Leon (Mexican). It appears that the OAS Visual Arts Unit obtained two copies of this album and that the individual prints were cut out of the album and mounted on cardboard to be used as traveling exhibits during the 1940s.

The Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression presented, with the support of the Art Museum of the Americas, pres...
11/03/2023

The Special Rapporteurship for Freedom of Expression presented, with the support of the Art Museum of the Americas, presented the sculpture by Argentine-American artist Stephanie Mercedes, an artistic gesture created with the aim of remembering the lives of the 517 journalists killed in the region since 1998. The artwork will be accessioned into the permanent OAS art collection. Stephanie Mercedes used materials such as bullet casings and elements from the architectural façade of the main building of the Organization of American States: the condor and the eagle. OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro, Inter American Commission on Human Rights President Margarette May Macaulay, and family members Jorge Uriel Sánchez Ordóñez and Ricardo Rivas spoke.

Photos: Rafael Cruz Art

Ramón Oviedo (Dominican Republic, b. 1927, d. 2015)Eco Estéril (Sterile Echo) (detail), 1975Oil on canvas, 58 x 58"© Fun...
11/03/2023

Ramón Oviedo (Dominican Republic, b. 1927, d. 2015)
Eco Estéril (Sterile Echo) (detail), 1975
Oil on canvas, 58 x 58"
© Fundación Ramon Oviedo

On this day in 1975, the exhibition Paintings by Ramón Oviedo of the Dominican Republic opened at the OAS Main Building Gallery, precursor to the present-day AMA. The exhibition ran from November 3-21, 1975, and included Eco Estéril (Sterile Echo).

After Jaime Colsón, Darío Suro, and Ada Balcácer, the late Ramón Oviedo is undoubtedly the leading figure of Dominican painting to emerge in the 1960s. In 1975, the painter was invited by Gómez Sicre to have a solo exhibition at OAS headquarters. The works for the show were created as a response to the title of Paul Gauguin’s landmark painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? The French painter created a symbolist work depicting people of color in a tropical climate, but his optic was that of a colonialist European fleeing the horrors of modernity. Oviedo deconstructs Gauguin’s pictorial utopia through paintings such as Eco Estéril where the forms are more three-dimensional and the pictorial surface is agitated. A bluish gray-green color defines the figures, while in shocking contrast the background is an intense cadmium red. The lower right of the painting contains a closeup of what can be either an old man or woman, eyes closed and teeth clenched. This figure seems to be falling sideways. In the middle ground a n**e woman sits with arms and legs crossed. She stares outwardly. Vaguely visible in the upper background, the back of a n**e female is discernible. These human forms are floating against the red background. The faces are mestizo, reflecting the hybridity of Caribbean people. This is no warm climate paradise, but a place of dislocation, anxiety, tension. There is an existential charge to the compositions of these years (1974-1979), where meaning is pursued through the painted figures that are searching for meaning, either through convulsive gestures or still indifference. The title references a sound that does not reverberate.

-Alejandro Anreus

Ernesto BazanJuana Margarita, Vinales, Cuba, 2004Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on view
11/02/2023

Ernesto Bazan
Juana Margarita, Vinales, Cuba, 2004

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

Ernesto BazanBirthday Cake, Havana, 1996Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on view
11/01/2023

Ernesto Bazan
Birthday Cake, Havana, 1996

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

Ernesto BazanBanana and To***co House, Viñales, Cuba, 2004Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on view In 2001, Bazan be...
10/31/2023

Ernesto Bazan
Banana and To***co House, Viñales, Cuba, 2004

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

In 2001, Bazan began using a panoramic camera. Each resulting picture offers an epic poem to life in Cuba. The vast scope of these images reveals the startling juxtapositions and intriguing narratives of Cuban life that attracted Bazan and never released their grip.

Lola Fernández (Costa Rica, b. 1926, Colombia)Return of the Ancestor, 1967Oil on masonite, 67 x 48"OAS AMA | Art Museum ...
10/30/2023

Lola Fernández (Costa Rica, b. 1926, Colombia)
Return of the Ancestor, 1967
Oil on masonite, 67 x 48"
OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas Collection

On this day in 1968, the exhibition Lola Fernández of Costa Rica opened at the OAS Main Building Gallery, precursor to the present-day AMA. The exhibition ran from October 30-November 20, 1968.

Lola Fernández Caballero painted Return of the Ancestor in 1967 while she was still an active member of the Grupo Ocho. Like other artists from this important group in Costa Rica, Fernández was among the first in San José’s provincial context to embrace abstraction and to introduce non-figurative elements into their compositions, often with mixed results. Return of the Ancestor, however, is a solid example of Fernández’s informalist period and, as such, it is emblematic of a range of abstract (and semi-figurative) approaches emerging not just in Costa Rica but across Latin America at the time. Unlike Fernández’s other monochromatic works from this period, the painting combines shades of white, black, gray, blue, red, and yellow in an aesthetically pleasing composition. Irrespective of any literal associations that may be suggested by the title Return of the Ancestor, Fernández has stated of this and other abstract works from the 1960s that their meaning is open to individual interpretation. However, themes such as the emotional charge of the Costa Rican landscape and geography, and a consistent experimentation with color saturations were recurrent elements in her works. Despite her many accomplishments, today Lola Fernández is not well known outside of Costa Rica. Yet, during the late 1960s through the early 1980s she was regularly included in national representations and individual exhibitions abroad. In fact, along with Francisco Zúñiga, she was the Costa Rican artist who most frequently exhibited at what was then the gallery of the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C.

-Michele Greet

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on view through January 2024Ernesto Bazan was born in Palermo in 1959. He received ...
10/29/2023

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view through January 2024

Ernesto Bazan was born in Palermo in 1959. He received his first camera when he was 14 years old and began photographing daily life in his native city and in the rural areas of Sicily. At the age of 19, he went to New York to study photography at the School of Visual Arts, from where he graduated in 1982. Bazan has published numerous books, including The Perpetual Past, Passing Through, The First Twenty Years, Island, Molo Nord, and Before You Grow Up. In 2008, his publishing house BazanPhotos published BazanCuba, which was awarded Best Book of the Year at the New York Photo Festival. Al Campo, an in-depth exploration in color of life in the Cuban countryside, followed in 2011. Isla, the third Cuba book, appeared in 2014. Finally, 25 de Noviembre concluded the Cuba series in 2020.

Gallery photographed by

María Luisa PachecoGeographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkNow on view through January 14María Luisa Mariaca ...
10/28/2023

María Luisa Pacheco
Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York
Now on view through January 14

María Luisa Mariaca Dietrich de Pacheco was born in La Paz, Bolivia, in 1918 as the second child of five to a renowned architect-engineer father and a German-Bolivian mother. Exhibiting an aptitude for art at a young age, she had her own table in her father's architectural studio, where she learned pencil and charcoal drawing while becoming fascinated with the classical illustrations of Gustave Doré for Dante's Divine Comedy. Drawing would dominate her expression, becoming a vital component and a significant foundation in her painting career. In 1936, she started attending the Academy of Fine Arts in La Paz, studying under several foreign-trained artists.

Contrary to the expectations of a young married society woman with small children, in 1946, Pacheco became a commercial illustrator working in various local newspapers such as El Diario, soon rising to director of the cultural and literary section of the influential newspaper La Razón, owned by Carlos V. Aramayo, one of the three tin barons. She established long-lasting friendships with poets and authors for whom she translated words into images, often in a surrealistic style.

Gallery photographed by

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkNow on view through January 14. Pacheco's untime...
10/27/2023

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York
Now on view through January 14.

Pacheco's untimely death in 1982 at age 63, when her career was increasing in a steady global arc ascent, may have contributed to her name being almost hidden from the dominant canons of the art of the Americas. This exhibition revendicates her artistic production, bringing her up to the main platform of contemporary Latin American Art. The exhibition is organized by the AMA |Art Museum ofthe Americas to support the increased visibility and the reevaluation of thecanon of modern and contemporary artists of the Americas whose histories are closely intertwined with the museum.

This exhibition is curated by Olga U. Herrera and Adriana Ospina.

The exhibition is made possible by the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the OAS, the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women, Vinos 1750, and the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas. Additional support provided by the Surf Point Foundation and an anonymous donor.

María Luisa PachecoGeographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkNow on view through January 14.Returning to La Paz...
10/26/2023

María Luisa Pacheco
Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York
Now on view through January 14.

Returning to La Paz, Bolivia in 1952, she became an emerging voice in the shaping of avant-garde abstraction debates and a founder of the collective Ocho Contemporáneos which reinvigorated a stifling art scene. In 1956 she was invited to exhibit in the United States, beginning her New York period, where she permanently settled.

Pacheco was the recipient of an unprecedented three consecutive John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowships. She moved away from her semi-abstract figurative period to abstraction exploring materiality, texture, and a formal approach to art. With an active studio practice she matured artistically, embracing various aesthetic vocabularies.

This exhibition is curated by Olga U. Herrera and Adriana Ospina.

The exhibition is made possible by the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the OAS, the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women, Vinos 1750, and the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas. Additional support provided by the Surf Point Foundation and an anonymous donor.

María Luisa PachecoGeographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkNow on view through January 14.María Luisa Pacheco...
10/25/2023

María Luisa Pacheco
Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York
Now on view through January 14.

María Luisa Pacheco (1918, La Paz, Bolivia - 1982, New York, NY) is one of the most significant abstract women artists of the Americas. This exhibition examines three foundational geographic sites in the evolution of her career. It uncovers the context of Cold War modernisms and the influences that shaped Pacheco's painting style and personal abstract vocabulary. After being awarded a fellowship by the Instituto de Cultura Hispánica she went to Madrid to attend the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and Daniel Vasquéz Díaz's studio in 1951-1952. Traveling extensively in Europe, Pacheco absorbed a new Post-War art influence, increasingly pushing the boundaries of formal abstraction.

This exhibition is curated by Olga U. Herrera and Adriana Ospina.

The exhibition is made possible by the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the OAS, the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women, Vinos 1750, and the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas. Additional support provided by the Surf Point Foundation and an anonymous donor.

Thank-you to all who attended the opening reception of Maria Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, N...
10/24/2023

Thank-you to all who attended the opening reception of Maria Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York. This exhibition is possible thanks to the support of Ambassador Héctor Enrique Arce Zaconeta and the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the OAS, Ambassador Carmen Montón and the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women, the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas, Vinos 1750, and the Surf Point Foundation. This exhibition is curated by Dr. Olga U. Herrera and Adriana Ospina, and is on view through January 14.

We thank Dr. Alejandro Anreus and Ms. Debra Blehart for their generous donation of the sculpture Maqueta para el preso p...
10/23/2023

We thank Dr. Alejandro Anreus and Ms. Debra Blehart for their generous donation of the sculpture Maqueta para el preso político desconocido by the Cuban-American sculptor Roberto Estopiñán, into the permanent OAS art collection.

Mary St. AlbansParicutín, ca. 1950Vintage print on cardboard, 11 x 13.9" Private collectionOn this day in 1947, the exhi...
10/23/2023

Mary St. Albans
Paricutín, ca. 1950
Vintage print on cardboard, 11 x 13.9"
Private collection

On this day in 1947, the exhibition Mary St. Albans: Photographs of Mexico opened at the Pan American Union Building. The Pan American Union became the Organization of American States shortly afterward, and its art program came to be housed in the Museum of Modern Art of Latin America, later the AMA | Art Museum of the Americas, in 1976.

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkNow on viewOAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas,...
10/22/2023

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York

Now on view
OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas, 201 18th Street NW, Washington, DC 20006
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 10am-5pm
Admission: Free

The exhibition María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York reframes the life and oeuvre of one of the most significant abstract women artists of the Americas in the second half of the twentieth century. Utilizing a spatial geographic curatorial framework of three transformational geographic sites, the exhibition uncovers the local/global context of Cold War modernisms and the influences that shaped Pacheco's early transnational engagement and painting style, which eventually crystallized into a highly personal abstract vocabulary, evolved technique, and a mature artistic practice. The exhibition features an array of paintings, collages, watercolors, sketchbooks, archival memorabilia, personal photographs, and audio. Interpretative wall labels contextualize the artworks in a larger modern art historical narrative while locating them in her trajectory as an artist.

On view through January 14, 2024

This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the OAS, the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women, Vinos 1750, and the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas. Additional support provided by the Surf Point Foundation.

Today at 12noon at the AMA, join us for the opening of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, N...
10/20/2023

Today at 12noon at the AMA, join us for the opening of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York.

RSVP here:

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 at 12-2pm

Tomorrow (Friday) at 12noon, join us for the opening of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, ...
10/19/2023

Tomorrow (Friday) at 12noon, join us for the opening of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York.

RSVP here:

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 at 12-2pm

This Friday at 12noon, join us for the opening of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New Yo...
10/18/2023

This Friday at 12noon, join us for the opening of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York.

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 at 12-2pm

Join us on this coming Friday at 12pm.María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkOctober 20...
10/17/2023

Join us on this coming Friday at 12pm.

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York
October 20, 2023 - January 14, 2024
OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 12-2pm.

RSVP:

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 at 12-2pm

Thank you for joining us for the opening reception of Plumilla, Recent Works by Master Fernando Carballo, In the Pandemi...
10/16/2023

Thank you for joining us for the opening reception of Plumilla, Recent Works by Master Fernando Carballo, In the Pandemic, now on view by appointment ([email protected]) at the OAS Main Building. Valentina Carballo, the daughter of the artist, speaks, while Ambassador Alejandra Solano Cabalceta of the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the OAS, and Adriana Ospina, Director of AMA, stand to her left and right, respectively.

Fernando CarballoEsperaJoin us today (Monday) at 12noon at the OAS Main Building for the opening for Fernando Carballo's...
10/16/2023

Fernando Carballo
Espera

Join us today (Monday) at 12noon at the OAS Main Building for the opening for Fernando Carballo's exhibition.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ink-conversations-recent-work-of-master-fernando-carballo-in-the-pandemic-tickets-732811046567

The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas and the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the OAS invite you to the opening reception of Ink Conversations: Recent Work of Master Fernando Carballo, In the Pandemic. The new ink drawings by Fernando Carballo (1941), which number more than thirty, summarize his work in 2020, a strange year with introspective looks. Constructed with a subtle but dense pattern of black ink, the artist proposes a world all his own, populated by characters with large faces, deep gazes and huge hands; characters that interact with other similes that at the same time share space with the most diverse pets or personify divine messengers. They talk statically in a space absent from all interaction, where the multiplicity of meanings proliferates.

Fernando with his wonderful drawings gives us his concerns and hopes during this prolonged confinement through a world absent of color, or of a very contained color, which allows us to recreate this strange journey of 2020. His masterful drawing and his characters converse with each other, or with their children or their pets and, in many cases, interact with us, the public, through questions posed in their deep gaze. They ask about anxieties, fears, loves and small triumphs throughout this forced confinement.

This exhibition will remain on view through October 27, by appointment only: [email protected]

Ernesto Bazan Young Wrestlers, Havana (detail), 2003From the series Isla Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on view
10/14/2023

Ernesto Bazan
Young Wrestlers, Havana (detail), 2003
From the series Isla

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

Ernesto Bazan Bananas and To***co, Viñales, 2003From the series Al CampoRaw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on view
10/13/2023

Ernesto Bazan
Bananas and To***co, Viñales, 2003
From the series Al Campo

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New YorkOctober 20, 2023 - January 14, 2024OAS AMA | Art...
10/12/2023

María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York
October 20, 2023 - January 14, 2024
OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 12-2pm. RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/maria-luisa-pacheco-geographies-of-abstractionmadrid-la-paz-new-york-tickets-731980201487

The exhibition María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York reframes the life and oeuvre of one of the most significant abstract women artists of the Americas in the second half of the twentieth century. Utilizing a spatial geographic curatorial framework of three transformational geographic sites, the exhibition uncovers the local/global context of Cold War modernisms and the influences that shaped Pacheco's early transnational engagement and painting style, which eventually crystallized into a highly personal abstract vocabulary, evolved technique, and a mature artistic practice.

10/11/2023

Join us on Monday, October 16 at 12noon at the OAS Main Building for the opening for Fernando Carballo's exhibition.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ink-conversations-recent-work-of-master-fernando-carballo-in-the-pandemic-tickets-732811046567

The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas and the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the OAS invite you to the opening reception of Ink Conversations: Recent Work of Master Fernando Carballo, In the Pandemic. The new ink drawings by Fernando Carballo (1941), which number more than thirty, summarize his work in 2020, a strange year with introspective looks. Constructed with a subtle but dense pattern of black ink, the artist proposes a world all his own, populated by characters with large faces, deep gazes and huge hands; characters that interact with other similes that at the same time share space with the most diverse pets or personify divine messengers. They talk statically in a space absent from all interaction, where the multiplicity of meanings proliferates.

Fernando with his wonderful drawings gives us his concerns and hopes during this prolonged confinement through a world absent of color, or of a very contained color, which allows us to recreate this strange journey of 2020. His masterful drawing and his characters converse with each other, or with their children or their pets and, in many cases, interact with us, the public, through questions posed in their deep gaze. They ask about anxieties, fears, loves and small triumphs throughout this forced confinement.

This exhibition will remain on view through October 27, by appointment only: [email protected]

Panel sobre la exposición: Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Amér...
10/10/2023

Panel sobre la exposición: Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Américas

Hoy (Martes) a las 15 h. , AMA | Museo de Arte de las Américas, OEA

Este programa se realizará en español.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-sobre-la-exposicion-tal-como-somos-tickets-728424726967

Panelistas:
Rio Paraná, colectivo de arte, ganadores del gran premio de la exposición
Stefano Fabeni, Director Ejecutivo, Synergía - Iniciativas por los Derechos Humanos
Rebeca Omaña, Coordinadora de Programa, Proyecto de Identidad Civil Universal de las Américas (PUICA)
Pedro Vaca, Relator Especial para la Libertad de Expresión, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)
Miguel Mesquita, Coordinador de la Sección II de Monitoreo, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)

Panel sobre la exposición : Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Américas

Brooklyn Rando (Italy)Metamorphosis, 2021 Panel sobre la exposición: Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, n...
10/09/2023

Brooklyn Rando (Italy)
Metamorphosis, 2021

Panel sobre la exposición: Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Américas

Martes 10 de octubre a las 15 h. , AMA | Museo de Arte de las Américas, OEA

Este programa se realizará en español.

RSVP por el link:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/panel-sobre-la-exposicion-tal-como-somos-tickets-728424726967

Panelistas:
Rio Paraná, colectivo de arte, ganadores del gran premio de la exposición
Stefano Fabeni, Director Ejecutivo, Synergía - Iniciativas por los Derechos Humanos
Rebeca Omaña, Coordinadora de Programa, Proyecto de Identidad Civil Universal de las Américas (PUICA)
Pedro Vaca, Relator Especial para la Libertad de Expresión, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)
Miguel Mesquita, Coordinador de la Sección II de Monitoreo, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)

Ernesto Bazan TV Monitor 1, Havana, 2006Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on viewFor Bazan, the photographic explorat...
10/08/2023

Ernesto Bazan
TV Monitor 1, Havana, 2006

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

For Bazan, the photographic exploration inspired by Cuba and its people sustained marriage and parenthood and survived exile and return. His photographs of Cuba examine the complicated love and longing that he has felt for the island. They represent a rare, extended vision of a unique place and its people, among whom Bazan lived, loved, and worked.

Ernesto BazanCoke Bottle, Havana, 2006Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in CubaNow on viewBorn and raised in Palermo, on the Ita...
10/07/2023

Ernesto Bazan
Coke Bottle, Havana, 2006

Raw Poetry: Ernesto Bazan in Cuba
Now on view

Born and raised in Palermo, on the Italian island of Sicily, photographer Ernesto Bazan arrived in Cuba in 1992. He remained there for fourteen years, until being forced to leave in 2006. From this period on the island, Bazan produced three photographic books: Bazan Cuba, Al Campo, and Isla. In 2016, Bazan unexpectedly returned to Cuba in the wake of the death of Fidel Castro. From his 2016 visits, he produced his fourth book, 25 de Noviembre. This exhibition highlights works included in 25 de Noviembre and features photographs from throughout Bazan’s time in Cuba.

Panel sobre la exposición: Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Amér...
10/06/2023

Panel sobre la exposición: Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Américas

Martes 10 de octubre a las 15 h. , AMA | Museo de Arte de las Américas, OEA

Este programa se realizará en español.

Panelistas:
Rio Paraná, colectivo de arte, ganadores del gran premio de la exposición
Stefano Fabeni, Director Ejecutivo, Synergía - Iniciativas por los Derechos Humanos
Rebeca Omaña, Coordinadora de Programa, Proyecto de Identidad Civil Universal de las Américas (PUICA)
Pedro Vaca, Relator Especial para la Libertad de Expresión, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)
Miguel Mesquita, Coordinador de la Sección II de Monitoreo, Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH)

RSVP:

Panel sobre la exposición : Tal como somos: artistas trans, de dos espíritus, no binarios y de género diverso de las Américas

Join us on Monday, October 16 at 12noon at the OAS Main Building for the opening for Fernando Carballo's exhibition.The ...
10/05/2023

Join us on Monday, October 16 at 12noon at the OAS Main Building for the opening for Fernando Carballo's exhibition.

The OAS AMA | Art Museum of the Americas and the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the OAS invite you to the opening reception of Ink Conversations: Recent Work of Master Fernando Carballo, In the Pandemic. The new ink drawings by Fernando Carballo (1941), which number more than thirty, summarize his work in 2020, a strange year with introspective looks. Constructed with a subtle but dense pattern of black ink, the artist proposes a world all his own, populated by characters with large faces, deep gazes and huge hands; characters that interact with other similes that at the same time share space with the most diverse pets or personify divine messengers. They talk statically in a space absent from all interaction, where the multiplicity of meanings proliferates.

Fernando with his wonderful drawings gives us his concerns and hopes during this prolonged confinement through a world absent of color, or of a very contained color, which allows us to recreate this strange journey of 2020. His masterful drawing and his characters converse with each other, or with their children or their pets and, in many cases, interact with us, the public, through questions posed in their deep gaze. They ask about anxieties, fears, loves and small triumphs throughout this forced confinement.

This exhibition will remain on view through October 27, by appointment only: [email protected]

Ink Conversations Recent Work of Master Fernando Carballo, In the Pandemic

Upcoming: join us on Friday, October 20 from 12-2pm for the opening reception of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abs...
10/04/2023

Upcoming: join us on Friday, October 20 from 12-2pm for the opening reception of María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York.

The exhibition María Luisa Pacheco: Geographies of Abstraction—Madrid, La Paz, New York reframes the life and oeuvre of one of the most significant abstract women artists of the Americas in the second half of the twentieth century. Utilizing a spatial geographic curatorial framework of three transformational geographic sites, the exhibition uncovers the local/global context of Cold War modernisms and the influences that shaped Pacheco's early transnational engagement and painting style, which eventually crystallized into a highly personal abstract vocabulary, evolved technique, and a mature artistic practice. Curated by Dr. Olga U. Herrera, and AMA Director Adriana Ospina the exhibition features an array of paintings, collages, watercolors, sketchbooks, archival memorabilia, personal photographs, and audio. Interpretative wall labels contextualize the artworks in a larger modern art historical narrative while locating them in her trajectory as an artist.

This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Permanent Mission of Bolivia to the OAS, the Permanent Observer Mission of Spain to the OAS, the Inter-American Commission of Women, Vinos 1750, and the Friends of the Art Museum of the Americas. Additional support provided by the Surf Point Foundation.

Opening reception: Friday, October 20 at 12-2pm

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The Silent Fall educational program is in full swing!

Bring your kids to this fun activity, held monthly from 10am-1pm throughout the exhibition's run:

Saturday, May 20 | Sunday, May 21
Saturday, June 24 | Sunday, June 25
Saturday, July 15 | Sunday, July 16

RSVP at the link in the comments.

Supplementing the exhibit, the participatory educational program aims to cultivate a sense of empathy and agency for collective action. The ongoing program Song for the Birds will address both in person and online audiences utilizing several artistic approaches serving as a homage to the artist’s creative process:
Poetry / Mapping / Facilitated Dialogues / Collage / Drawing / printmaking / phototransfer
The Silent Fall educational program is supported by the Roman Foundation.

Photos: Rafael Cruz Art
The Silent Fall educational program is in full swing!

Bring your kids to this fun activity, held monthly from 10am-1pm throughout the exhibition's run:

Saturday, May 20 | Sunday, May 21
Saturday, June 24 | Sunday, June 25
Saturday, July 15 | Sunday, July 16

RSVP at the link in bio.

Supplementing the exhibit, the participatory educational program aims to cultivate a sense of empathy and agency for collective action. The ongoing program Song for the Birds will address both in person and online audiences utilizing several artistic approaches serving as a homage to the artist’s creative process:
Poetry / Mapping / Facilitated Dialogues / Collage / Drawing / printmaking / phototransfer
The Silent Fall educational program is supported by the Roman Foundation.

Photos:
“How to Look at Latin American Art”
Organized by Lynette M.F. Bosch, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Art History

Virtual exhibition:
https://artspaces.kunstmatrix.com/en/exhibition/11331946/how-to-look-at-latin-american-art

State University of New York at Geneseo Student Curators:
Autumn Bieber, Anthropology Major, Lingustics Minor, Archaeology Microcredential
Leah Knapton Rapp, Art History Major, Museum Studies Minor
Ashlee Kuzemchak, Psychology Major, Art History and Geological Sciences Minor
Heather Matela, History Major, Museum Studies Minor
Emily McMahon, Biology Major (Marine Biology), Science Communication Microcredential
Ruby Morris, Sociology and Sustainability Studies Double Major, President of Peace Action, Geneseo
Lora Odeh, Sociomedial Sciences and Anthropology Double Major
Ella Pearcy, English Major with Concentration in Creative Writing, Art History Minor, Managing Editor, The Lamron (Student Newspaper)
Ralph Velasquez, English Major, Communication Minor, Vice-President, Student Association and Chair, Student Senate (2022-2023)

This exhibition is made possible by the support of the Society for the Advancement of the Art Museum of the Americas (SAAMA)

“How to Look at Latin American Art”
In the early 1990s, when I started working on Latin American Art, I was often asked the question – “How do you look at Latin American Art?” My initial, somewhat defensive, reaction was to wonder if such a question reflected a bias that somehow Latin American art was not on par with other kinds of art and needed extra instruction to appreciate. But this response faded upon reflection. The question of how to look at art is asked about most of the history of art by everyone seeking to understand what art means because understanding how to look at art is a complex process that defies a one-size-fits-all solution. Learning how to look is key to understanding how art conveys meaning and connection.

This online exhibition, “How to Look at Latin American Art,” curated by students from the State University of New York at Geneseo, supplies a guide towards answering this important question. For those who want to learn more about Latin American Art, the selections made by the students from paintings in the collection of the Art Museum of the Americas provide a primer, which Autumn Bieber, Leah Knapton Rapp, Ashlee Kuzemchak, Heather Matela, Emily McMahon, Ruby Morris, Lora Odeh, Ella Pearcy, and Ralph Velasquez have developed.

The Art Museum of the Americas of the Organization of American States is unique in many ways and its collection, assembled initially by José Gómez Sicre, presents an international, cultural asset, berthed in Washington, D.C. The assembly of the original collection was enacted through purchases and gifts, the provenance of which can be traced, in most instances, to original owners and galleries that directly represented the artists whose work is at AMA. Such provenance represents solid attribution of the works possessing clear provenance and devoid of problematic acquisition practices. As such, AMA’s works of solid provenance represent a benchmark for the study of Latin American Art. At a time when so many museums are facing the return of works acquired in less-than-ideal ways, AMA is free of such a clouded past–a rare, if not unique place to hold among museums with historically significant collections.

The student curators, listed above, who also contributed to this introductory essay, selected works by Juan Downey (Chile); Dario Suro (Dominican Republic); César Menendez (El Salvador); Joseph Jean-Gilles (Haiti); Rufino Tamayo (Mexico); Zoma Baitler, Pedro Figari, Ignacio Iturria (Uruguay); and, Héctor Poleo (Venezuela). The works range in date from the 1930s to the 1990s. Works were selected based on individual, visual affinity with the styles and themes and from the emotional responses each Student Curator had to the works they chose. This exhibition is not intended to be a comprehensive catalogue of the art of Latin America. It is a small window into a much larger world, with an accidental emphasis on the art of Uruguay. In their essays, each student curator presented their research and their interpretation of their selected work from a contextual perspective, reflective of the social, cultural and political circumstances within which artists gave visual expression to their experience.

In reading the essays that comprise this online exhibition’s catalog, visitors to the site will learn ways of looking at Latin American Art that will help them see their world anew. They will also have the opportunity to engage personally in encounters with examples of the art of the Americas and the Caribbean. In these essays, the Student Curators have shared the result of their research, their perceptions and their perspectives, yielding a thoughtful exploration of the specific history of each artist and their countries. While the group of countries was not comprehensive, the included works are emblematic of specific and universal circumstances that resonate throughout Latin American and, indeed, globally.

As the exhibition developed, the combined work of the Student Curators generated a larger appreciation of how the personal and individual experiences of life correspond and connect across communities and cultures. Hope, sorrow, defeat, triumph, joy, scarcity, abundance and tradition are universal elements that tell the story of our world and storytelling is one aspect of what artists do as they record their world. Those stories form a matrix of human experience from which others can learn to connect across national boundaries. Each of the essays featured in this exhibition provides a path towards understanding the significance of creating and preserving an artistic record to pass from generation to generation so that the cultural and historical knowledge preserved in works of art is not lost.

As the first museum of Latin American Art in the United States, founded in the national capital, AMA is directly linked to the Organization of American States’ Mission of Cultural Diplomacy and to its Four Pillars. The Four Pillars the OAS employs to effectively implement its goals are: Democracy, Human Rights, Security and Development. To these can be added issues of Sustainability and responsible Ecological Management of resources. In their essays, each student curator linked the subjects and context of their selections to the Four Pillars and to the OAS’s goal of enacting Cultural Diplomacy through the Visual Arts. Placing each work within the Four Pillars amplified their message and meaning.

Additionally, I asked the Student Curators how they would define the role of a Cultural Ambassador and how Cultural Diplomacy can further international understanding. Their ideas about how art can forward Cultural Diplomacy and how the visual arts can activate engagement with the OAS Pillars are presented below.

When asked what Cultural Ambassadors can do and how Art can play a significant role in Cultural Diplomacy, the Student Curators responded:
“A cultural ambassador’s duty is to share their culture from their own perspective and their experience with it. The purpose of this is to share your experiences with others and relate your experience to what others have experienced in their culture. Such is not meant to be used as a way to group a particular community together, but rather to promote the spread of information and bonding over shared experiences, whether positive or negative. These ways of sharing can be used in relation to art because artwork shows individual perspectives based in culture, as a physical expression of emotions.

When discussing the socioeconomic changes within many Latin American countries during the time in which a much contemporary art was made, it can show the relation to what individual countries and groups were experiencing through the different styles artist use to create their artistic record and the subjects they choose to portray it.”
-Autumn Bieber

“Art can be used in ways that create good advertisement for countries and such use can effectively bring attention to groups that might slip below the radar. The art of individual cultures, groups and countries establishes a sense of collective history for these entities. From the perspective of audiences for works of art, those who learn visually will find that a world opens up to them that provides an accessible education that might not have been available otherwise, if cultural exchanges were limited to verbal or literary. “Art transcends language” and images are powerful and can transmit across cultures divided by language. Cultural Diplomacy through art can bridge gaps.”
-Leah Knapton Rapp

“Cultural ambassadors can represent their culture in an ideal manner, while honestly contending with histories that can be and often are problematic. In so doing, connections can be established between cultures with similar experiences, who can benefit from what has been learned as solutions to problems in paralle situation. Art can bridge divides through visual representation and transcend multiple barriers and works that represent universal, human experience can bring unity faster and more directly than a newspaper headline can.”
-Heather Matela

“Cultural Ambassadors should be knowledgeable about their own culture’s history and about how their histories impact society today in their own countries and in other countries with which they interact. They should also be open to learning about other cultures through all cultural manifestations and establishing connections by using their country’s artistic culture to best advantage to how connection and community. Art opens conversations in constructive ways, where similar elements of the human condition from positive to negative can be represented as a way to connect and discuss and find ways of solving problems.”
-Emily McMahon

“A cultural ambassador should be able to present a cohesive picture of their own culture and identity, while communicating. how their culture distinguishes itself from others. They should also communicate how their culture is beautifully unique. In so doing, the goal of Cultural Ambassadors could be to learn how to best showcase their national identity and their pride in its distinctive aspects, while also being able to acknowledge the beauty and cultural abundance of other countries.

Art is valuable on a national scale. Countries can be proud of the artists that represent their nations, even when in a critical and honest way. This can be used by Cultural Ambassadors to attain a true understanding of their culture, which can be communicated to other to promote understanding even in difficult circumstances.”
-Ruby Morris

“Cultural Ambassadors have the ability to represent their own culture alongside other cultures. Allowing for people to learn and understand how specific cultural histories have impacted their society in the present day. For Cultural Ambassadors, it is very important to be able to see the beauty in other cultures, in order to understand and appreciate their art and cultural past as part of cross-cultural education. Culture and art go hand and hand within a society and art alters the way in which people see the world through the eyes of artists.. The beauty art can create involves how it can communicate the voices, concerns, and traditions of different cultures so that all can surround and immerse themselves in other cultures through their art. This process of immersion within another culture enables an expansion of education that allows for the appreciation of art as heritage communication”
-Lora Odeh

“Cultural Ambassadorship is public outreach and a way of providing accessibility to cultural perspectives by one group to other groups. Cultural Ambassadors should be ready to demonstrate many perspectives about their cultures and countries to which different audiences can relate in different contexts. Experiencing art encourages people to be creative because art is a manifestation of creativity. As such, the absorption of art through engaging with works of art can engender other types of creativity in spectators and audiences. Such an absorption of creativity can function as a spur to other kinds of creativity in other endeavors thus creativity from art can be transferred to creative solutions to the problems faced in our world towards which the OAS is meant to provide solutions. With creativity as part of its cultural mission, transformation can occur from unexpected sources once the creative impulse is launched by the experience of looking at art and learning its meaning and significance. Thus, social politics can be helped by art’s example.”
-Ella Pearcy

“Cultural Ambassadors should be well-educated and knowledgeable about the history of the culture they’re representing in all of its manifestations. They should also take care to represent all the voices of their countries and cultures - both past and present – without imposing their personal opinions. They should let their people speak in diversity in all aspects of human cultural outcomes.

Visual Art is an authentic representation of an individual’s perspective on the culture that engendered them. The cultural experiences of artists form and influence the works they create and such bodies of work are a historical record that can be used in Cultural Ambassadorship to inform others about the struggles and goals of different countries.”
-Ralph Velasquez

I and SUNY Geneseo’s Student Curators: Autumn Bieber, Leah Knapton Rapp, Ashlee Kuzemchak, Heather Matela, Emily McMahon, Ruby Morris, Lora Odeh, Ella Pearcy and Ralph Velasquez thank the Art Museum of the Americas and the Organization of American States for giving us the opportunity for this online exhibition, which enables the presentation of the research and ideas this group had about – “How To Look At Latin American Art.”

We hope that everyone who reads these essays comes away with a renewed commitment to the kind of communication and connection that are endemic to the visual arts and to all artistic manifestations so that we can all become Cultural Ambassadors for the Art of Latin America.

This project has been made possible thanks to the support of the Society for the Advancement of the Art Museum of the Americas.
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