In 1976, the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas organized Manuel Mérida, an exhibition of the work of Venezuelan painter Manuel Mérida (b. 1939). With the environmental works in that show, Mérida formulated a new concept based on large canvases and creased papers. The catalogue text, written by Lourdes Blanco, provides a systematic account of Mérida’s diverse production. His art, Blanco asserts, is full of tensions that by no means diminish the power of the final product, but instead give shape to a terrain ripe for reflection on creative possibilities based on innovative media, mixed media, the use of varied materials, and the use of motion. On those grounds, Mérida formulates the need to consider artistic expression an “expanded field” that can make use of tradition in a functional environment that explores new expressive possibilities. In that sense, this 1976 exhibition demonstrates production that is heir to a great deal of artistic experience acquired starting in the fifties with Mérida’s work in set design, as the text illustrates. The artist has an unwavering interest in developing work that, even from a conventional perspective, questions its own nature and introduces factors that generate phenomena. Like the object art of the time, the emphasis on effects and—in the case of this show—on works that are environmental in nature, attests to Mérida’s interest in showing artifacts that generate experience.
