The first chapter of the article “Rodrigo Callejas o el paisaje como obsesión” [Rodrigo Callejas or Landscape as Obsession] by the Colombian painter and printmaker Alberto González Rodríguez discusses the distinction he makes between geographic space (referring to a place) and landscape (referring to the image of a place). The article goes on to describe Callejas’ early art training, initially within the strict parameters of the “Escuela de acuarelistas antioqueños” [School of Watercolorists of Antioquia] that emphasized landscape painting; followed by an abrupt change of direction inspired by his time at The Art Institute of Chicago where he experimented with neon light sculpture. His trip to the United States in 1963 exposed him to the latest movements in Kinetic art, Pop Art, and installation art, an experience that had a defining influence on his later work. The author of the article explains that Callejas takes an unusual approach to landscape painting because the elements he uses “involve aggression,” such as fire and barbed wire, which indicate “the presence of the urbanized, capitalist world in the landscape.” The final chapter in the article describes Callejas’ latest work based on the leaf of the yarumo (a native tree) and the flower of the borrachero [Brugmansia] (used for its hallucinogenic properties), composed within the regular, symmetrical confines of the square.    

The article by Alberto González Rodríguez includes a very thorough review of the work of the Colombian artist Rodrigo Callejas (b. 1937), who took an alternative approach to landscape painting at a time when it was considered an exhausted genre. The exhibition Paisaje 1900-1975 [Landscape 1900-1975] by the curator Eduardo Serrano (b. 1939) at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá [see doc. # 858154] explored several variations on the theme during that period and underscored the lack of interest in it in recent times. This is precisely why the works of Callejas, Antonio Barrera (1948−1990), and Hernando del Villar (1944−1989) were so important, because they breathed new life into landscape painting in the 1970s.  

Written on the occasion of the retrospective exhibition Rodrigo Callejas: cuatro décadas de paisaje [Rodrigo Callejas: Four Decades of Landscapes] presented at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Medellín and at the Centro de Artes at the Universidad EAFIT, also in Medellín, the article reveals defining aspects of his training at The Art Institute of Chicago that help to understand his use of cone-shaped forms surrounded by neon lights as a simplified expression of a landscape.

The text discusses key works in Callejas’ career, such as the El Neusa series that depict an area of native woodlands, pine trees, rivers, and streams in the eastern mountains of Colombia. These works marked his move from Medellín to Bogotá to take a position as a professor at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia (1973−1996). Callejas took part in the exhibition Once antioqueños [Eleven Antioquians] (1975), curated by Eduardo Serrano at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá, that represented a generation of artists whose work thoroughly revitalized the art scene in Medellín in the 1970s.