Dos lenguajes contrastantes en el arte colombiano: nueva figuración e indexicalidad, en el contexto de la problemática sociopolítica de las décadas de 1960 y 1980

Abstract

In 1999, The Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá organized an exhibition entitled "Art and Violence in Colombia since 1948." I explore the contrast, observed in this exhibition, between works done in the 1950s and 1960s by artists such as Alejandro Obregón, Norman Mejía, and Pedro Alcántara, and works from the 1980s and 1990s by artists such as Beatriz González, Óscar Muñoz, and Doris Salcedo. I analyze and compare the works of these two groups of artists in terms of their visual language, the themes they explore, and their relation to the changing socio-political environment in Colombia. I argue that the first group of artists used mainly a "neo-figurative" language within the context of the period of "La Violencia" (ca. 1945-1960). By contrast, the second group developed an "indexical" language while working under new socio-political conditions generated by an armed conflict that, by the 1980s, involved new participants, had expanded geographically and acquired a normalized character. The analysis and comparison between the two groups of artists allowed me to recognize that the contrast between their works implies significant differences in relation to how the artists perceived the human condition, violence, and their own artistic activity. These differences are indicative of an innovative trend in contemporary Colombian art that invites viewers to consider the works, as well as the human beings and actions they allude to, in a new critical and reflective manner.