The German critic Karin Jezierski (b. 1951) moved to Venezuela in 1983 and published two small books: Muralismo en Venezuela: Un pueblo pinta su historia (1987) and the one reviewed here, published in 1995, both by Cuadernos Lagoven. In these books, a writer with talent and critical sensitivity, as well as a strong interest in Venezuelan art is presented. In this second book, she limited herself to just ten artists from Zulia: Francisco Hung (1937–2001), Ender Cepeda (b. 1945), Carmelo Niño (b. 1951), Edgar Queipo (b. 1951), Pedro Morales (b. 1958), Diego Barboza (1945–2003), Ángel Peña (b. 1949), Henry Bermúdez (b. 1951), Emerjo Darío Lunar (1940–1990), and Francisco Bellorín (b. 1941). Most of the work created by these artists came to be known in the 1970s and 1980s. While her list prioritizes painting, the critic took care to mention and review other media such as Belloría’s printmaking, Barboza’s happenings, and computerized videos by Morales. The fact that the critic was not trying to write a history of modern art in that region would explain the absence of important artists such as Víctor Valera, Lya Bermúdez, and Carlos Contramaestre. For each of the artists chosen, however, she did provide significant biographical detail, along with a brief, accurate analysis of the contribution made by that artist’s most outstanding works. The selection includes two generations: the one that appeared in the 1960s with lyrical abstract art or Abstract Expressionism (Hung and Bellorín) and one in the early 1970s that took up Conceptual art and performance art (Barboza). Moreover, there were new draftsmen who appeared in the 1970s and became the painters of Neo-Magic Realism or fantasy-filled work in the 1980s (Cepeda, Queipo, Niño, Peña, and Bermúdez). The exception was the youngest of the group (Morales), who quickly turned to computer art. Only one of the artists selected was trained outside of the art academies (Lunar), but this proved to be no obstacle to his participation in salons and commercial recognition by the galleries in Caracas. Similarly, Jezierski attempts to establish the contemporary essence of this group of artists from Zulia, linking them to European and Latin American art, both in terms of style and their references to art history. She points out the correlation to Latin American literature, particularly to Magic Realism and “lo real maravilloso.” According to Jezierski, these artists do not make up a school, in spite of the closeness of the generations and the local references. However, the selection confirms that even at that early date, there was an awareness in the region of new artists with a national and international reach. This phenomenon was confirmed by the forty-second Venice Biennale (1986) and the Tokyo Art Expo of 1991. These connections are the reason this research is of interest, as the first specific study of contemporary painters from Zulia who are rooted in the present; the study eschews simple historical revisionism. The chronologies with which the writer concludes the book allow the reader to make other connections not addressed in the essay, such as the link of some of these artists to art groups; examples are 40 grados a la sombra (from Maracaibo) and Pez Dorado (from Caracas). Some of these artists even participated in the drawing boom that took place in the late 1970s and the “return to painting” of the 1980s.
