”Recasting José Antonio Fernández-Muro: Geometry in Transfer”
Megan Kincaid, PhD Candidate, History of Art, Institute of Fine Arts, NYU
Held in conjunction with the forthcoming exhibition at the Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA) José Antonio Fernández-Muro: Geometry in Transfer—the first solo exhibition dedicated to the artist’s luminous transfer paintings first developed in Buenos Aires in the late 1950s and elaborated on a decade later while living in New York City—this talk attempts to reconstruct the connections between the artist’s early affiliation with concrete abstraction and eventual integration of recognizable imagery like sewer grates and street surfaces into his compositional vocabulary. In the late 1950s, the artist started overlaying perforated metal grates and stencils onto complex and sweeping geometric assemblies. These repeated accretions of transfers produced dizzying optical effects and expressive surfaces, pushing his paintings beyond the constraints of hard-edged geometry and even evoking associations with OpArt and kinetic art. Seeking to reintroduce this critical participant in global abstraction, I will discuss a selection of masterwork paintings from ISLAA’s collection alongside never-before-displayed archival materials to reassert his centrality to Latin American modernism in both Argentina and the United States.
Brushing against the grain of other art historical narratives, which argue that Fernández-Muro came to artistic maturity only once he was in New York, this presentation will demonstrate that his celebrated New York imagery was a continuation of his ideological commitments to an unorthodox form of abstraction and precise technical facility initiated in Buenos Aires. Examining both his processual procedures and exposure to industry as catalysts for his transfer paintings, this talk charts his waning dedication to the anti-expressionist rhetoric of concrete art that marked new directions in Argentine abstraction during the period.
![Rojo (Leaden Gate) (Red [Leaden Gate]), 1964. Oil and aluminum foil pasted on canvas, 40 x 36 in. (101.6 x 91.4 cm). Courtesy Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA). © Estate of José Antonio Fernández-Muro.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5c16ef39620b85bb8b0a9b7a/1633058958016-JGHL4V50Y4OIFAHVIK88/Jose-Antonio-Fernandez-Muro_Rojo-Leaden-Gate_Front-1-1391x1536.jpeg)
Rojo (Leaden Gate) (Red [Leaden Gate]), 1964.
Oil and aluminum foil pasted on canvas, 40 x 36 in. (101.6 x 91.4 cm).
Courtesy Institute for Studies on Latin American Art (ISLAA).
© Estate of José Antonio Fernández-Muro.
About South and About!
South and About! is a student-organized research workshop on the arts from Latin America and the Caribbean, supported by ISLAA. This program invites graduate students and emerging scholars in art history and related disciplines to participate in informal discussions among their peers. The thematic focus is broad and welcomes interdisciplinary methodological approaches, including, but not limited to, temporal and geographic proposals of an innovative nature. The workshop seeks to foster and strengthen further interconnections within research communities via creative intellectual exchanges. Established by ISLAA and The Institute of Fine Arts in 2017, South and About! happens twice every semester and takes place at The Institute of Fine Arts, NYU. Speakers are selected by the student organizers.