In this essay, Gerardo Mosquera (b. 1945) analyzes Color que soy [The Color I Am] (1999), the work by Delcy Morelos (b. 1967). This essay is important because of its unprecedented suggestion concerning the relationship between abstract painting and music: Mosquera posits that pictorial signs can also refer to things beyond the painting itself, as happens with music that alludes to real sounds without actually expressing them. The essay is also important because here Mosquera discusses his personal views on the work of Delcy Morelos, the Colombian painter, analyzing her use of a range of pictorial languages. For example, he claims that Morelos’ work is both informal and geometric, eschewing illustration and the “emotional expression of abstract languages.” In Mosquera’s opinion, one of the most important facets of Morelos’ work is “its potential to imbue abstract language with new meanings based on extremely formal images.”
This essay first appeared in the catalogue for the exhibition Cinco continentes y una ciudad: Tercer Salón Internacional de Pintura [Five Continents and One City: 3rd International Painting Salon] that was presented in Mexico City in 2000 (see doc. # 1150214). It was subsequently included in a publication produced on the occasion of the exhibition Displaced: arte contemporáneo de Colombia [Displaced: Contemporary Colombian Art] (October 6, 2007 – January 6, 2008) that was organized in the United Kingdom by the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery.
Gerardo Mosquera, who earned his degree in Art History from the University of Havana, is a well-known critic and curator. He has written a number of books and essays on art, and was head of the Research Department at the Wilfredo Lam Center in Havana. He is currently the curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York.
Delcy Morelos is an artist from the Escuela de Bellas Artes [School of Fine Arts] in Cartagena. She has had numerous solo and group exhibition in Colombia and abroad. She was awarded First Prize at the Salón de Arte Joven [Young Art Salon] at the Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Cartagena, and at the Salón de Arte Joven in Bogotá. She also won the prize at the Bienal Internacional de Arte ES2002 [ES2002 International Art Biennial] at the Centro Cultural Tijuana (Baja California, Mexico). For more information, see “En la Trama Personal” [In the Personal Web], doc. #1099546.