In this text, the Venezuelan artist and critic Perán Erminy reflects on the relationships between the so-called art categories of “popular art” and “non-popular art” in contemporary art and in the framework of the exhibition Confluencias. The analysis aims to make clear the essentialist and arbitrary character of such classifications, as well as to clarify the multiple conditions of any cultural manifestations. Erminy relates prior exhibitions that have dealt with this subject both nationally and internationally. He reflects on the concepts of “multiculturalism” and “plurality” in his analysis, addressing problems such as artistic categorization, universal aesthetic risks, and tensions arising from hegemonic and marginal (outsider art) manifestations in terms of artistic judgment.

The exhibition Confluencias was curated in 1994 by the Venezuelan artist and critic Perán Erminy (1929–2018) and held at the Galería de Arte Contemporáneo Tito Salas (Caracas) and the Museo de Arte Popular de Petare.The exhibition brought together Venezuelan and foreign artists, representatives of the so-called “popular” avant-garde and those considered “non-popular,” in addition to those associated with outsider art and collective artistic manifestations commonly displaced by academic review and/or exhibitions. The exhibition Confluencias was a notable milestone in relation to the reflection on the status of the art object and of the artistic creation in and of itself, the questioning of the values and artistic categorization criteria, the assessment of established art cannons, and of the constructing of hegemonic aesthetics (to be understood as universal and unique). Contrary to the essentialisms derived from traditional thinking, the curatorial essay by Erminy underscores the capacity for dialogue supporting all collective cultural manifestations, interacting similarly to the diverse and pluralistic world from which these continuous loans and interrelationships are drawn.

Although, in a way perhaps late, the discussion brought about by this exhibition introduced to the Venezuelan visual arts arena the post-structuralism debates of the 1970s and the postmodernist concepts of the 1980s a decade when “alterity” or “otherness” were privileged over the “grand narratives” [grands récits]. Also in vogue was the need to promote policies on “difference” [la différence] and inclusion. Both at the theoretical level and in the exhibition, Erminy’s observations not only contributed to the dialogue on diverse cultural methodologies, but also put into question the problems and threats that stem from an art market as expression of an authoritarian single system of values. This exhibition constituted a singular enunciation against the marginalization of popular art in salons and collective events. The choice of equating different expressions of artistic creativity was, at that time, a symptomatic strategy of postmodern thought, thanks to which plurality gained ground and artistic creativity became a freer exercise.