The critic, José Hernán Aguilar, reviewed Fernando Uhía’s second individual exhibition for El Tiempo, the daily newspaper with the largest national circulation in Colombia. Entitled Pinturas [Paintings], this exhibition was held in 1991 in the Galería Gaula, an independent space for exhibitions and dissemination of contemporary art. Opened in the early 1990s, the gallery was managed by Jaime Iregui Restrepo, Danilo Dueñas and Carlos Salas. In this text, Aguilar reviews the exhibition, explaining that these are not conventional paintings rendered with pigment on canvas, rather works created with oilcloth and objects. The critic begins with a short historical review of artistic expression in some way related to Uhía’s approach, in order to establish parallels among the three works by the artist from Bogotá and the historical works referred to by each of these works, respectively. Since the questions raised by Uhía in these works cannot be resolved in the traditional language of conventional painting, the artist makes use of oilcloths and objects. Thus, Aguilar briefly presents the entire genealogy of similar practices in painting ([by] Picasso, Duchamp, Rauschenberg), setting up Uhía as their heir. To the writer, Uhía’s paintings do not just adopt materials, but also a stylistic approach and a pictorial model. The article pays special attention to three works, discussing them to establish a reading (in a parallel dialogue) with the other works referred to by each title: Mondrian & Van Doesburg, El nuevo Proun, El libro rojo [The Red Book]. Finally, Aguilar states that the value of Uhía’s work with respect to its pictorial treatment as object or an example of fetishism depends on the viewers putting some space between ourselves and the work.

This document is important as an introduction by José Hernán Aguilar (b. 1952) to the exhibition, Pinturas by Fernando Uhía (b. 1967)—held at the Galería Gaula in 1991— in which we can discern the first glimpse of a vision Uhía would develop over time. It is a language he would revisit, more directly, in the series Technoesmaltes started in 2004. In turn, Pinturas shows his unique way of using ready-made objects, focusing on their place in the contemplation of daily life. The artist considers day-to-day objects as if they were set forth in a museum space. From that perspective, we begin to visualize the artist’s interest in what he would come to call “socialization strategies,” that is, strategies that tend to create spaces for participation and self-recognition in an environment. The works make specific references to certain pictorial models from classical Modern art, especially Abstract art.  Throughout his life as an artist, Uhía has thought about the ideas that underlie the modern arts discourse such as “originality” and/or “copy.” His focus has been the relationship of such concepts to specific conditions such as local sources, globalization and the influence of the image. The artist has participated in many group and individual exhibitions and has been given significant recognition in the local art world: a Young Talents scholarship from the Banco de la República [Central Bank] of Colombia (1997) and the Premio Luis Caballero [Luis Caballero Prize] in its fourth round (2007). For a perspective that complements this text, see “El Uhía” [doc. no. 1092623].