Craftsmanship has always inspired art

Venezuelan patron Juan Carlos Maldonado shows his collection: "Craftsmanship has always inspired art"

An original exhibition at the Casa de América links the geometric abstraction of Torres García or Carlos Cruz-Diez with the Ye'kwana basketry made in the Amazon rainforest.
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Included in the parallel program of the ARCO fair, which this year focuses on the Amazon, this exhibition is coming to the Casa de América in Madrid, made up of a selection of works from the collection of the Venezuelan patron and businessman Juan Carlos Maldonado. With more than 110 pieces by artists such as Carlos Cruz-Diez, Josef Albers, Mathias Goeritz, Gego and Torres García, among other prominent names, the exhibition puts in parallel the Ye'kwana aesthetic, originating in the Amazon rainforest, and modern and contemporary geometric abstraction.

Curated by Ariel Jiménez, Convergencias/Divergencias, dos estéticas en dialogo proposes a crossroads between basketry, benches and vases made by the Ye'kwana community, located between Brazil and Venezuela, and prominent members of the Latin American avant-garde.
And it is with geometric abstraction as its central and absolute axis that the JCMC (Juan Carlos Maldonado Collection) began 20 years ago committed to the artists of the movement in Latin America. From its headquarters in the Design District of Miami, its primary objective is to contribute to the study and appreciation of abstraction as a universal phenomenon that transcends geographies and artistic times.
He made his first purchase in 1999, "a work by the master Jesús Rafael Soto," and continued with other modern Venezuelan artists such as Alejandro Otero and Carlos Cruz-Diez. He would like to have a work by Piet Mondrian, although for the moment it has not been possible, and his greatest discovery has been the work of Carmen Herrera. His favorite piece: one by Joaquín Torres García.

In 2018, Maldonado acquired an important collection of Yek'wana works with the collaboration of the explorer Charles Brewer-Carías and part of this set is what we can now see in Madrid, linked to the great names of Latin American art of the first half of the 20th century.

Question. You are exhibiting an original mix at the Casa de América. What unites Ye'kwana basketry, originating in the Amazon rainforest, and geometric abstraction?

Answer. Yek'wana basketry is an original aesthetic expression, coming from indigenous cultures originating in the Amazon that are part of aesthetic universality. However, in this exhibition, Convergences and Divergences, two aesthetics in dialogue, the curatorship of Ariel Jiménez tries to study the possible encounters between the first aesthetic expressions with the modern and contemporary.
»When between a Yek'wana basket and a work by Joaquín Torres García, Francisco Matto and Mathias Goeritz we detect organizational forms defined by symbols, vertical and horizontal crossings of lines, curiosity is awakened by these links present in the weavers of the Amazon and modern and contemporary art.

Q. The aesthetic expressions of the Amazon have entered exhibitions and biennials, such as the one in Venice, and have been placed on the same level as art, while the debate has been opened on whether or not it is art…

A. Indeed, indigenous expressions of the Amazon have already been present in the pavilions of the Venice Biennale seeking to exalt these indigenous cultures in the history of art and to open a new chapter to the debate in the art world.

Q. What makes them different?

A. Regarding the Yek'wana baskets, they are original expressions where the results show an art full of symbols, shapes, lines, movements that allow us to think that they have always been a source of inspiration for modern and contemporary artists.

Q. What attracted you to the Amazonian communities?

A. When I first saw the aesthetic expression of the Yek'wana indigenous ethnic group in the collection of Charles Brewer Carias, a deep connoisseur of this indigenous culture of the Amazon, I immediately connected with geometric abstraction because of the symbols in the basketry.
Q. The objective of your collection is to study and bring geometric abstraction closer to the public. Why is it so important to you?

A. Geometric abstraction is a movement that began in the 1920s and is based on the use of geometric shapes in simple compositions in flat spaces. The rigor of the forms, color and spatial movement of geometric abstraction is part of the history of modern art and the mission of the collection has been to educate through research and exhibitions that allow the public to understand its origin and processes of transformation over time.
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