In this essay on Marisol [Escobar], Venezuelan curator and gallery director Águeda Hernández analyzes her creative concept by drawing relationships between the works that (at that moment) were in Venezuela, in both public spaces and museums, and highlighting the most important works on a civic scale. In her text she explains the exhibition is not a retrospective—in order to avoid confusing periods in her artistic creation—but instead simply a selection of her work from the 1960s and 1970s. The author does not hesitate to classify Marisol as important to the history of art, believing her to be an extension of the creative force of those artists that preceded her, while also recognizing [Marisol’s] complete authenticity. For Hernández, Marisol cannot be pigeonholed into one art movement; since she has created her own language and style. In conclusion, she applauds Simón Alberto Consalvi for having included her in the Venezuelan entry to the thirty-fourth Venice Biennale that took place in that critical year of 1968.

This essay by Águeda Hernández, the curator and gallery director, is part of the catalogue for the Marisol exhibition held at the Estudio Actual in Caracas featuring the Venezuelan-American sculptor born in Paris, Marisol [Escobar] (b. 1930). It is significant because it covers the celebrated artist’s first solo show in Venezuela. In spite of reporting on such an important event, the text is surprising for its brevity. At the time of the show, Marisol had already been recognized by the mainstream, but was nevertheless little known by the Venezuelan public, and given this fact, one might suppose the text could have served to disseminate her work more deeply by definitively introducing the artist to the national art scene of the country. Especially because the only previous publication is the catalogue text in Spanish by Clara Diament Sujo for the thirty-fourth Venice Biennale of 1968. Instead, Hernández limits herself to extolling Marisol’s creative virtues, perhaps so that the national public could discover on their own the true significance of her work. Although she was not born in Venezuela, and had lived only a short time in the nation, Marisol is considered a Venezuelan artist. The author [of this text] is therefore surprised that she had not previously exhibited in Caracas; and expressed curiosity about the international reaction to this first showing of her work. The author also predicts that this show will be the first of many.

There are two texts by critic and curator Roberto Guevara on the celebrated artist of the 1960s “Con Marisol y a veces sin ella. Crónica de una no entrevista.” [With Marisol and at Times Without Her: Chronicle of a Non-Interview] [see the ICAA digital archive doc. no. 11637330; and his other text, “Para encontrar a Marisol” [To Find Marisol] (doc. no. 1163541). Also see the text by Margarita D’Amico, “Marisol: Un acuario para soñar”  [Marisol: An Aquarium for Dreaming] (doc. no. 1163605); the text by Akiko Hyuga, “Marisol: Marisol in the 60s—Social Satire and Search for Identity” (doc. no. 1163366); and the essay by Venezuelan journalist Albor, “Marisol madera fina” [Marisol Fine Wood] (doc. no. 1163525)].