‘Visibilia’ en el punto neutro de la figuración is Alfredo Chacón’s essay about Visibilia, the graphic designer Gerd Leufert’s exhibition at the Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas, in 1966. Chacón approaches his review from a comfortable, anthropological perspective, discussing the idea of going beyond the dichotomy that sees “what is experienced” and “what is thought” as “diametrically opposed” concepts. Chacón explains that, in Leufert’s case, both alternatives are presented as complementary visual actions and forms. Chacón also mentions that Leufert is both a painter and a graphic artist, offering a clear definition of the symbolism involved and concluding that Visibilia reveals a neutral point in Figuration, both in the sense of expressive will and in terms of aesthetic sensibility. In his essay, Chacón refers to several thinkers, such as André Leroi-Gourhan, Franz Hermann Wills, and Roland Barthes.

Alfredo Chacón (b. 1937) is a poet and anthropologist; he is intimately involved in Venezuelan cultural affairs, and is particularly familiar with the visual arts. His opinions about the images presented in Visibilia, the exhibition of works by the Lithuanian-born Venezuelan graphic designer Gerd Leufert (1914–98), are therefore especially interesting since he is discussing them in terms of communication from an anthropological perspective. In his essay, Chacón reviews one of the most exceptional works in contemporary Venezuelan art, the images that Leufert assembled under the heading of Visibilia, which are neither emblems nor paintings, but merely a negation of some of those expressive forms and means of communication. 

In very precise terms, Chacón makes a distinction between the (different and complementary) value of the designer’s creative action and the artist’s aesthetic sensibility.   

As regards the artist himself, Leufert is better known for his graphic design work, and is remembered as a pioneer of Venezuelan modern design, as well as a teacher to subsequent generations. There are very few articles or essays about his visual art, which is another reason why Chacón’s essay is so valuable. The exhibition in question spawned its homonymous book, published in 1966.