Cesar Pedro Paternosto

CESAR PEDRO PATERNOSTO (Argentina, 1931).
Untitled, 1980.
Mixed media on canvas.
Signed and dated on the back.
Measurements: 81 x 81 cm.
This work by César Pedro Paternosto, made in 1980, clearly exemplifies the central axis of his artistic production: the search for a "sensitive geometry" that transcends the rigidity and austerity of Concrete Art to open a profound dialogue with history, materiality and visual perception. With a restricted but luminous palette, Paternosto emphasizes the tension between clarity and depth, structure and fluidity, giving the pictorial surface a vibrant and meditative dimension.
The work is part of a crucial moment in the career of the Argentine artist, who since the late 1960s had revolutionized the traditional notion of the painting by exploring the expressive possibilities of the edge of the canvas, transforming the painting into an object and modifying the relationship between the work and the viewer. This period is complemented by his study and fascination with the geometric semantics of pre-Columbian cultures, an interest that since 1977 has enriched and deepened his production, positioning him as a bridge between Latin American ancestral traditions and contemporary abstract art.
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 abstraction with expressionist roots 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.
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.