Graciela Hasper at Sicardi Gallery

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Graciela Hasper
at Sicardi Gallery through December 24
by Todd Camplin

Sicardi Gallery represents artists from Latin America, of those artists you will find
painters like Manuel Espinosa who is influenced by geometry and sculptors
like Maria Fernanda Cardoso, who challenges the mind through fashionable
expressions. The Sicardi Gallery's own, Graciela Hasper will be exhibiting her
geometric inspired paintings this month and she takes a real colorful
approach to her canvas.

As eye catching as these works are, they also reference a very rich tradition in art history.
Several geometric inspired art movements in the 20th century happened in Latin America.
Hasper is from Argentina and in Buenos Aires the art movement MADI was formed by artist
Carmelo Arden Quin. It is hard to imagine Hasper wasn’t aware of the MADI artists. After
all her work is as fun and whimsical as Arden Quin. I also see Russian Constructivist artists
influence in her work. Hasper and the Constructivists use common goals of form and line.
In addition, I see her politically mirroring the Russian artists. After all, the Soviets were
pressuring artists to only paint works in the Social Realism style, but many of the
Constructivists either fled the country or worked in secret. In Argentina, Hasper wasn’t
making art to help prop up the ever changing governments. Her work, like the
Constructivist is above politics. I see Hasper’s work as a positive force and that is
optimistic in a sometime tumultuous world.

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The Graciela Hasper show will not be up much longer, so drop by before December 24th.
You will be treated to a festival for the eyes. While you are visiting, get to know Sicardi
Gallery’s other artists through their collection of catalogs from past shows. Just ask the
director to see one on Siquier or Gego.

Untitled, 2011, Acrylic on canvas, 74.8" x 114"

Untitled 76 x 80 inches

previous articles
by Todd Camplin

The colors are so bright and vibrant that I was instantly cheered up when I saw them.
The interaction of lines and shapes overlap like a stained glass window and the colors
seem to glow on the canvas. Dare I say, but these are extremely festive paintings. One
of her “Untitled” paintings looks as if the work has been inspired by construction paper
laid out and then cut to overlap each rectangle. Another work is like overlapping lines
to form these beautiful organic shapes. I like how the thick lines change colors in
relationship to the lines it overlaps. For example, a yellow line turns a red line into
a rich colored orange.