Gego (Gertrudis Goldschmidt) (1912-1994)

Conceptual artistic manifestations in Latin America had their first appearance in the 1940s. It was in Buenos Aires that the group MADI developed a highly rigorous conceptual and abstract art. Their works were soon exhibited in other countries in Latin America, serving as inspiration to the concrete and abstract artists of both Brazil and Venezuela. Gego, a German immigrant, soon became one of the most important and innovative exponents of conceptualism in Venezuela and elsewhere. She developed an object-sculpture that consisted of a three dimensional assemblage of hardware materials like nails, screws, washers and rods. These object-sculptures invaded the space of the viewer, confronting the spectator with new ways of interpreting and associating their own perception and experience of art. Presence and absence, as well as other non-representational issues proper of the concretist and abstract movements are constituent elements of Gego's highly significant work.