Eugenio Espinoza, Untitled, 1971

Untitled, 1971, was the first time that I experimented with the idea of folding the grid; casually, it was also the largest format painting I created then. Prior to painting the canvas, I had a clear idea in my mind so I chose to use raw canvas since otherwise it would not fold easily. Once finished, I did not like the grid with perspective and this idea was discarded -- I considered it an error – it was never repeated. Nevertheless, it was this painting that a few months later inspired me to create the installation Cuadrilatero.

Circunstancial/12 Cocos was the first of 3 installations created for the First Salon de Jovenes Artistas inaugurated in Maracay, in 1971. It consists of a cube with a black grid painted on raw canvas and hanging from the ceiling with ropes. Inside the cube 12 green coconuts were inserted to create tension, volume and a new narrative.

Cuadrilatero, was part of 3 installations exhibited at I Salon de Jovenes Artistas inaugurated in 1971 at Casa de la Cultura in Maracay. This installation was inspired by my first large scale painting created earlier. It was the first work created specifically for the floor and made with raw canvas and metal cubes. My constant search was to find a tridimensional system that had less solid volume.

Untitled, 1971 was the third installation exhibited at Salon de Jovenes Artistas in Maracay. At that time I felt free to hang my works from the ceiling, place them on the floor, outdoors on city streets or in the countryside. This work consisted of 8 boxes hanging from the ceiling. They were made of a black grid painted on raw canvas, styrofoam, and photographs inserted inside the boxes.

My first solo show was in 1972, at Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, titled Spinoza. It consisted of 21 paintings and a few installations hanging from the ceiling. At that time my concern

was first and foremost the surface and support of the painting. Furthermore, I limited my search for answers within the traditions of painting, its contents, esthetics, its materiality and its corporality. Hence, I started to deform the canvas on the stretcher while simultaneously transforming the stretchers themselves.

Instead of painting other images, I painted a black grid and black squares on raw canvas, then deformed, folded or cut through it to show part of the wooden support, or using the verso of the painting as the foreground. These paintings and installations became the focus of my practice for several decades.

Impenetrable 1972, was the fourth installation exhibited in Venezuela, a few months after showing the first three installations Circunstancial (12 coconuts), Cuadrilatero and Untitled at Casa de la Cultura in Maracay in 1971. This installation Impenetrable, 1972, occupied two exhibition rooms wall to wall, with the same dimensions as the rooms and blocking the public interaction with the work.

Almost three decades later, in 1998, it was installed at Espacios Union, in Caracas.

In 2005, for my first individual show in Miami, I recreated this installation at Locust Projects. A decade later, for the exhibition Eugenio Espinoza: Unruly Supports, (1970-1980) it was shown at the Perez Art Museum in Miami.

Finally, in 2016, a variation of the Impenetrable was created in large scale at Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, in Spain.

Untitled. This painting was part of a group of works created for the 1972 individual show at Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas. For the first time I painted the square and used the verso of the painting as its foreground, mounting it on a stretcher whose lower half was cut off leaving the non-stretched half of the canvas hanging freely in the air.

This structure has been repeated sporadically throughout the years.

In this painting, Untitled 1972, which was part of my first individual show at Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, I removed the top part of the stretcher so that the entire canvas could relax. The cut in the left corner still challenges the surface, and the folds of the canvas conspire with light and shadow.

The torn corner seems to become volume itself.

Neither the order of geometry nor the movements of planes and lines attracted me.

Untitled 1972, was created with canvas on an incomplete stretcher. It has one horizontal and one vertical bar forming a corner joined by a diagonal bar. On the canvas, cut in a shape half square and half triangle, I painted two black squares, one inside the other, both pulled by a rope with a rock to create the illusion of tension. This idea, contrary to pictorial tradition, of simple execution and an appearance more of graphic design than pictorial expression , also incorporated humor.

Untitled, 1972. This black-and-white grid painting was created with raw canvas and sand. The stretcher is cut in half, part of the work is stapled on the stretcher while the other half hangs freely.

On the lower half of the verso of the painting, there are pouches in which small bags of sand are inserted to give weight and create tension on the canvas.

In 1977, I accidentally discovered Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, written in 1913 for the Russian Ballet and considered the most important musical work of the 20th Century. Immediately I created some sketches for an installation based on this musical composition. I limited myself to exploring the side of the pagan ritual as if this were another enigma of human nature but sin la gente corriendo desnuda por el bosque y la boca del rio. The result was The Rite of Spring: the void of the room filled with 3 volumes of raw canvas painted with a black grid, hanging diagonally from the ceiling and containing common objects such as dresses, dolls, kitchen utensils, wine bottles, bird legs and feathers AND a recording of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring inside each bag. At that time, hanging the installation from the ceiling like I had done in 1971 with 12 coconuts seemed a good alternative to placing it on the floor or walls. The main reason for hanging the volumes from the ceiling was for people to “see” the music coming out of the “geometric” volumes. This project was carried out in 2006 and today belongs to the collection of Banco Mercantil in Caracas -- y no en mi cuarto rodeado de objetos indeseables y de rumores imperecederos.

Inalambrico, 2013

This was a contradictory title for an installation that was basically built with thin, almost imperceptible wires. In a rectangular room, the wire lines were raised from corner to corner and floor to ceiling. Once stretched, I built a square on a grid with black and yellow tapes, one side had both colors while the other side was totally yellow. The square apparently floated in space, and eventually the audience tripped over the wire lines as they moved through the room. The grid succumbs to the emptiness of the space, its presence is perhaps non-intrusive, it does not ask anything of the viewer, it only contemplates itself in the space, day and night, like a search for a new kind of heresy…

Reordering the grid, 2014

This installation was inspired by the force of the wind. As you open the door to Another Space, Kopenhagen, a strong wind blows entering the room first. Based on that, the project was to place a grid on the floor created with crepe paper so that when the door is opened the wind blows the grid away. Thus, whoever entered would instantly see the effect of the wind on the space.

Eventually, someone from the gallery would need to reorder the grid.

At the beginning of this work it became clear that I was directing an orchestra of musicians without their musical instruments.

The cube made of canvas contains the inner void and its outer void. On its surface, fragments of the grid were painted enlgarged to the scale of the cube while disappearing the grid as it is regularly seen.

Repeating the same principles of my previous works, the cube evolves coexisting the rational with something in a gadda da vida.

Circular, 2024

Oil, canvas, wire, staples, plastic

6 x 7 in (15 x 18 cm)

Artic, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, plastic and wire

13 x 11 in (33 x 28 cm)

Hill, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, acrylic, plastic, wire

9 x 9 in (23 x 23 cm)

Tundra, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, wire

12 x 14 in (31 x 36 cm)

Cliff, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, wire and wood

11 x 14 in (28 x 34 cm)

Iceberg, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, staples, plastic, wire, bone

12 x 10 in (30 x 26 cm)

Desert, 2024

Acrylic on linen, staples, wire

12 x 12 in (30 x 30 cm)

Cave, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, wire, plastic, bone

10 x 14 in (26 x 36 cm)

Butte, 2024

Drop cloth, acrylic on canvas, staples, wire

12 x 19 in (30 x 48 cm)

Lake, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, plastic, wire

11 x 10 in (28 x 26 cm)

Forrest, 2024

Acrylic on drop cloth, stiches, wire

16 x 25 in (41 x 64 cm)

Delta, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, drop cloth, staples, plastic

14 x 10 in (36 x 25 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Guich, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, stiches, wire

19 x 24 in (48 x 61 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Volcano, 2024

Drop cloth, staples, wire, cardboard

14 x 16 x 8 in (36 x 41 x 20 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Canyon, 2024

Acrylic on canvas, staples, drop cloth, plastic and wire

14 x 13 in (36 x 33 cm)

Acrylic and glitter on canvas, dropcloth, staples on stretcher

30 x 30 in (76 x 76 cm)

Acrylic on canvas, dropcloth, wire, staples on stretcher

23 x 29 in (59 x 74 cm)

Acrylic on canvas, staples on stretcher

30 x 30 in (76 x 76 cm)

Acrylic and glitter on canvas, wire, staples on stretcher

17 x 16 in (43 x 40 cm)

Acrylic and glitter on linen, staples on stretcher

16 x 16 in (41 x 41 cm)

Acrylic on canvas, dropcloth, fabric, wire, staples on stretcher

19 x 19 in (49 x 49 cm)

Acrylic on linen, staples on stretcher

22 x 24 in (56 x 61 cm)

Acrylic and glitter on canvas, staples on stretcher

18 x 15 in (46 x 38 cm)

Acrylic and glitter on canvas, staples on stretcher

19 x 15 in (49 x 38 cm)

Acrylic on linen, canvas, dropcloth, staples on stretcher

20 x 17 in (51 x43 cm)

Acrylic on canvas

60 x 56 in (153 x 143 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth

60 x 56 in (153 x 142 cm)

Acrylic on canvas

60 x 56 in (153 x 142 cm)

Acrylic on canvas

60 56 in (153 x 142 cm)

Acrylic on canvas, metal bracket, wood

Acrylic on canvas, wood

Acrylic on drop cloth, wood, wire

17 x 32 in (43 x 82 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, wire, wood, staples

17 x 25 in (43 x 64 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, wood, staples, wire

20 x 29 in (51 x 74 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, wood, staples, wire

19 x 29 in (49 x 74 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, wood

22 x 26 in (56 x 66 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, wood, staples

Acrylic on drop cloth, staples, metal bracket, wood

19 x 12 in (48 x 30 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, wood, staples

12 x 18 in (30 x 46 cm)

Acrylic on drop cloth, Wie, staples

Acrylic on canvas, steel wire, multi-colored cylinders

20 x 78 in (51 x 198 cm)

2007 CIFO commission

Eugenio Espinoza, Negativa Moderna, detail

Eugenio Espinoza, Negativa Moderna, detail

Eugenio Espinoza, Negativa Moderna, 2007

Acrylic on unprimed canvas, 28 x 19 feet

Installation at Institute of Visual Arts, University of Wisconsin

Collection: Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation, Miami

Eugenio Espinoza, Negativa Moderna, detail

Installation at INOVA/Kenilworth

Curated by Nicholas Frank

Eugenio Espinoza, Walking in progress, 2018, Le Scalze, Napoli, Italia

In situ installation

Dimensions variable

Eugenio Espinoza, The Rite of Spring, 1977

Graphite and water color on paper

12 x 20.1/4 inches

Collection of the artist

Eugenio Espinoza, The Rite of Spring, 1977 [2007]

Acrylic on unprimed canvas, coffee, beans, rice, wine bottles, toys, clothing, rope, coconuts, and speakers with recording of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring

Three parts: 40 x 26 x 29 each

Acrylic on unprimed canvas, 12 coconuts, rope

47.5 x 47.5 in (120 x 120 cm)

Acrylic on unprimed canvas, 12 coconuts, rope

47.5 x 47.5 in (120 x 120 cm)

Marker, acrylic on canvas and staples on paper

18.5 x 11.5 in (38 x 29 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Untilted, 1971
Acrylic on unprimed canvas and sand
47.1/4 x 47.1/4 inches
Collection: Museum of Modern Art, New York
 

Eugenio Espinoza, Untitled, 1971
Acrlic on unprimed canvas
47 x 47 inches
Collection: Gego Foundation
 

Eugenio Espinoza, Untitled, 1972
Acrylic on unprimed canvas, wood
43.1/2 x 44.1/2 inches
Collection: Galeria de Arte Nacional collection, Caracas
 

Eugenio Espinoza, Untitled, 1971 [2004]

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

60 x 60 inches

Collection: Cecilia and Ernesto Poma, Miami

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

47 x 47x 10 in (120 x 120 cm x 25 cm)

Private collection, Miami

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

47 x 47 in (120 x 120 cm)

Private collection, Uruguay

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

47 x 47 in (120 x 120 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Untitled, 1972
Acrylic on unprimed canvas,  wood  and natural fiber rope
Dimensions Variable
Collection: Museum of Fine Arts Houston
 

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

47 x 47 in (120 x 120 cm)

Collection: the artist

In situ interactive installation

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

Dimensions variable

In situ interactive installation

Acrylic on unprimed muslin

Dimensions variable

Eugenio Espinoza, Circunstancial (12 cocos), 1971

Acrylic on unprimed canvas, coconuts and rope

30 x 51.5 x 54 in (76 x 131 x 137 cm)

Collection: Private, Miami

Eugenio Espinoza, Cuadrilatero, 1971

Unprimed canvas on steel

Variable dimensions

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Eugenio Espinoza, Cuadrilatero (Boxing Ring), 1971

Unprimed canvas and steel

20 x 143 x 142 inches

Photo: the artist

Collection: Museum of Fine Arts Boston

Eugenio Espinoza, Untitled (8 Cubes), 1971
Acrylic on raw muslin, styrofoam board, photographs, wire
12 x 28 x 28 inches (each cube)
Photo: the artist

Eugenio Espinoza, 1972
Panoramic view of individual exhibition at Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela
Photo: courtesy of the artist

Eugenio Espinoza, 1972

Panoramic view of individual exhibition at Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, Venezuela

Photo: courtesy of the artist

Project drawing for in-situ wall installation

Graphite and wood

dimensions variable

Wall drawing with wood

in-situ installation at PAMM, 2015

Eugenio Espinoza, Impenetrable, 1972
Graphite on translucent paper
18 x 24 inches
Collection of the artist

Eugenio Espinoza, Impenetrable, July 25, 1972
Acrylic on unprimed muslin, wood
25 x 404 x 93.1/2 inches
Collection: Tate Modern, London
Photo: courtesy of the artist

Impenetrable, in the process of installation at Ateneo de Caracas, 1972

Eugenio Espinoza, Impenetrable, 1972

Installation at Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas, 1988

Variable dimensions

Photo: Carlos German Rojas

Eugenio Espinoza, Impenetrable, 2004
Acrylic on unprimed muslin
25 x 138 x 172 inches
Installation at Wagner House, Lumus Park, Miami

Eugenio Espiboza, Impenetrable, 2005
Acrylic on unprimed canvas, wood
Dimensions variable
Installation at Locust Projects, Miami

Eugenio Espinoza, Impenetrable with five points of view, 2016
Acrylic on canvas on unprimed muslin, wood
Dimensions variable
Installation at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Tenerife, Spain

Eugenio Espinoza, Impenetrable with five points of view, 2016
Acrylic on canvas on unprimed muslin, wood
Dimensions variable
Installation at TEA Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Tenerife, Spain

Eugenio Espinoza Impenetrable

Situation photographed by Claudio Perna in the dunes of Coro, Venezuela, 1972

Galeria conkright, 1973

Acrylic on unprimed canvas in landscape

Impenetrable grid driven around Caracas for one month

Exhibition at Another Space, Copenhagen, 2014

Acrylic on unprimed canvas

47.5 x 47.5 in (120 x 120 cm) each panel

3 panels

First book on Eugenio Espinoza’s oeuvre

published by IARTES Venezuela, 2009

6 x 4.5 in (15 x 11 cm)

Oil based enamel on aluminum

60 x 120 in (152.5 x 303 cm)

(3 separate panels)

Eugenio Espinoza, Sin Titulo, 1992

oil, acrylic and chalk on canvas

99.1/4 x 99.1/4 inches (250 x 250 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Obsceno, 1992

oil, acrylic and chalk on canvas

99.1/4 x 99.1/4 inches (250 x 250 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Sin Titulo, 1992

Oil, acrylic and chalk on canvas

99.1/4 x 99.1/4 inches (250 x 250 cm)

Eugenio Espinoza, Orla series detail

Acrylic, oil and chalk on canvas

98.5 x 98.5 in (250 x 250 cm)