Cesar Pedro Paternosto

CESAR PEDRO PATERNOSTO (Argentina, 1931).
Untitled, 1998.
Watercolor and pencil on paper.
Signed and dated in the lower right corner.
Measurements. 57 x 57 cm; 66 x 66 cm (amrco).
This work by César Paternosto from 1998 is part of the artist's ongoing exploration of the relationship between geometry, materiality and visual perception. In fact, the piece is reminiscent of the painting entitled Hilos de agua, Intervals (Grid, 2) (1997), currently in the Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza collection. In both the artist deploys a network of lines that intertwine with precision and delicacy, generating an apparently rigid structure that, however, is softened thanks to the subtlety of the watercolor pencils. This technique allows a play of transparencies and nuances that gives the surface an almost musical rhythm, where the geometry does not impose coldness but invites a sensitive and slow reading.

César Paternosto is one of the fundamental figures of Latin American abstraction, whose work is inscribed from its beginnings in the avant-garde tradition of the continent. From very early on he practiced an expressionist abstraction that quickly evolved towards geometry, linking himself to the experiences of Concrete Art and the postulates of movements such as Madí, in dialogue with essential referents such as Joaquín Torres-García. In this process he developed what can be defined as a "sensitive geometry", in which the chromatic delicacy and the subtle irregularity of the lines attenuate the normative coldness of geometric abstraction.
A turning point in his career was the discovery, in 1969, of the expressive possibilities of the edge of the canvas, which transformed the painting into an object and opened a new space for painting, radically modifying the traditional relationship between the work and the spectator. This research was profoundly enriched in 1977, when Paternosto incorporated into his work the study of the semantics of geometric decorations of pre-Columbian cultures. Since then, both his artistic production and his theoretical work have been oriented towards establishing visible links between modern art and the ancestral geometric traditions of America.
Born in La Plata, Argentina, in 1931, Paternosto trained as a young man in drawing and painting and graduated in law before devoting himself fully to art. In 1967 he settled in New York, a city from which he consolidated an international projection that earned him important awards, including grants from the Guggenheim, Gottlieb, Rockefeller and Pollock-Krasner foundations. He has exhibited in leading international galleries and his work is part of the collections of museums such as the MoMA, the Guggenheim, the Hirshhorn, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires, the Museo Reina Sofía and the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Leading critics such as Alfred Barr, Lucy Lippard and Damián Bayón have written about his work. In addition to his artistic practice, he has developed a relevant theoretical and curatorial work, reflected in publications such as Piedra abstracta (1989) and in exhibitions such as Abstracción: el paradigma amerindio (IVAM, 2001). He currently lives and works in Segovia, Spain.