In this essay, the historian and art critic Carlos Silva reviews the different series assembled for the exhibition Sacrofanías (Caracas: Centro Armitano de Arte, 1989). He discusses the works presented by the German-born Venezuelan visual artist Miguel von Dangel (b. 1946), describing the dense unity of the artist’s conceptual universe and the visual range of his art. Silva notes the atypical nature of the works produced by von Dangel, who cannot be pigeonholed with any of his contemporaries in either conceptual or formal terms. This, in Silva’s opinion, makes it difficult to study this artist and his work. The situation arises because, in von Dangel’s work, all objective (artistic, ethical, and spiritual) reality is connected and blended together in a cosmic process. In other words, the Venezuelan avant-garde’s reservoir of ideas and resources was unable to sustain von Dangel throughout the course of his lengthy career. Silva therefore turns to philosophy, anthropology, and Christian philosophy to create a theoretical prism through which to study this artist and his work.
To view other critical articles about this artist and his work, see by Yasmín Monsalve “Mi obra ha tenido que luchar contra muchos prejuicios: un premio nacional visto con la luz de Petare” [doc. no. 1102125]; the essays by Elsa Flores “Miguel von Dangel: la respuesta latinoamericana (I)” [doc. no. 1155150], “Miguel von Dangel: la respuesta latinoamericana (II)” [doc. no. 1154906], and “Miguel von Dangel” [doc. no. 1056044]; the essay by Roberto Montero Castro published in 1986 “Transfiguraciones de Miguel von Dangel” [doc. no. 1153996]; the essays by María Luz Cárdenas “La Batalla de San Romano de von Dangel (I)” [doc. no. 1154028], and “La Batalla de San Romano de von Dangel (II)” [doc. no. 1154092]; the article by Ruth Auerbach published in 1996 “Hoy, el paisaje es aquí y ahora” [doc. no. 855314]; the conversation with Axel Stein published in 1998 “Interview with Miguel von Dangel” [doc. no. 1102348]; the one with María Cecilia Valera “Entrevista con Miguel von Dangel” [doc. no. 1154060]; the interview by María Josefa Pérez “Miguel von Dangel: no creo el cuento de que Reverón era loco” [doc. no. 1154012]; and, finally, the article by Víctor Guédez “Lo barroco y lo simbólico en la obra de Miguel von Dangel” [doc. no. 1154124].