Washington D.C. 11 de septiembre de 1997


The purpose of this exhibition is to offer a broader understanding of our hemisphere's landscape. And, what better place than the Organization of American States to experience such an event that speaks so eloquently about the countries of the Americas that are represented here. We are very fortunate that the Art Museum of the Americas and the Washington Sculpture Group have united in this common effort to reach out further to the artistic community in Washington.

This exhibition is about landscapes, a theme that has always been present throughout the history of art. It is also about sculptures because it is an art form whose spatial characteristics offer different images in a common theme.

In the Americas, during the XIX century, landscape was very important. By painting and recreating the sceneries and panoramas of our continent, our artists created a priceless visual record of our geography and of the richness of our flora and fauna. In other words, through this acknowledgment we gain an identity and a sense of belonging to these places, these climates, and their experiences that echoes in our cities and throughout the Americas.

This exhibition, in which many voices speak simultaneously, reveals the changing nature of the traditional countryside, of the hills and the mountains. The urban and rural images now depict ideas, dreams, the emotional state of the artists and their concern about the permanent reality in which they live and of which they are a part.

Each human being observes things in different ways. Today, we are fortunate to witness the preoccupations of 60 artists of the Americas. Their works show us the various panoramic possibilities at the end of the century.

We can all remember how Edward Hopper reflected on the loneliness of the urban landscape by depicting an empty Sunday street. We have seen how Jacobo Borges invented the Venezuelan Andes. Today, these artists want to introduce us to new concepts. Their works underscore man's concern about his environment. They ponder over the boundaries between life and death, indeed the loneliness of man in his space. They draw our attention toward the sweeping and dramatic idea of the fragility of our planet. Each artist presents us with a pressing image that can only bring us closer to that reality and force us to reflect upon it. In their objects and figures they denounce the pessimism of a horizon.

Estamos ante una propuesta múltiple con un tema común y miles de versiones completamente diferentes. Con la globalización del planeta vemos que la vanguardia está en todas partes simultáneamente.

Podemos ver cómo un artista de Canadá sumerge en un video el cauce del río; cómo un estadounidense se imagina la vida de un árbol; un hombre del caribe trae un camino de huellas hecho de sandalias; uno de los andes reconoce su geografía en el trabajo de la piedra y evoca a los precolombinos; cómo una brasileña se inventa un bosque encantado, o cómo el del cono sur talla un pedazo de madera pensando en las historias pasadas de su horizonte. Son diversos puntos de partida y de llegada que nos congregan a celebrar la forma como en el arte los hombres se entienden, respetan los valores internos y los foráneos, y quieren ser parte de la experiencia individual y social.

Sin duda en el arte la democracia internacional se materializa de una forma mas espontánea. Demuestra que el respeto mutuo es posible y que la utopía de la igualdad de condiciones tiene siempre la mejor dignidad entre los hombres.

Quiero finalmente agradecer a todos los que trabajaron en este bello proyecto, a los muchos granos de arena que se unieron para hacer realidad este enorme esfuerzo, a cada artista que se encuentra hoy con nosotros por el aporte de su obra y a la misión de los Estados unidos por unirse a este trabajo del Museo de las Américas para celebrar con todos nosotros su semana cultural.
Muchas Gracias