This article, published in El Nacional in February 1995, was written on the occasion of the closure of Obra Grafica de Mercedes Pardo at the Galería de los Espacios Cálidos del Ateneo de Caracas. The show was co-organized by the GAN (Galería de Arte Nacional) in Caracas. The unknown author introduces the Venezuelan modernist artist and pioneer of abstraction as a figure of international relevance, who is acknowledged with having the ability to embody the “multiple material possibilities of the abstract language” through the variety of her production, which includes painting, watercolor, collage, stained glass, and theater costumes and sets. This exhibition, however, focuses on her graphic art. The selection of works in the exhibition allows the viewers to appreciate both Pardo’s technical mastery and the sensitivity of her expression.

Published in El Nacional, this article announces the closure, on February 19, 1995, of the exhibition Obra Grafica de Mercedes Pardo. The text reports the first lines of a December article published in El Globo, almost word by word [see in the ICAA Digital Archive “El color es mi búsqueda infinita” (doc. no. 1331085)] with regard to the dates concerning this event showing works of the Venezuelan abstract artist Mercedes Pardo (1921–2005).

The exhibition was held at the Galería de los Espacios Cálidos, the exhibition space of the Ateneo de Caracas (founded in 1931) and one of the first centers in Venezuela to engage in the circulation of culture, well beyond the visual arts, that also featured a theater, conferences rooms, and a library and was located in the so-called Circuito de los Museos in Caracas. The 1995 exhibition was organized in this space in tandem with the GAN (Galeria de Arte Nacional), which had recently organized an exhibition of Mercedes Pardo’s graphic work (1993). It was the venue of the great retrospective Mercedes Pardo: Las Moradas del Color (1991), where graphic art featured alongside other techniques. Constant experimentation of techniques and approaches is an important asset in her production. Pardo’s research on color spans from an initial figurative phase (abandoned in 1950) to different approaches to the abstract language. Her Informalist and lyrical works—involved in the non-geometric side of abstraction—coexist with more geometric phases, hard-edge included. In tandem with her search for what she calls her abstract “language,” Pardo also studied the effects that different supports, materials, and techniques contributed to her making; moreover, her study of forms and color is equally present in her small- and large-scale works, in both her oil and acrylic paintings as well as the set designs and collages.

[For further detail on Pardo’s approach to silk-screen, consult the ICAA Digital Archive: Alejandro Otero, “Mercedes Pardo: color de la serigrafía” (doc. no. 1143176); Margarita D’Amico, “Mercedes Pardo: 1 x 9” (doc. no. 1155959); and Roberto Guevara, “Color y módulos en Mercedes Pardo” (doc. no. 1155991). With regard to her retrospective Mercedes Pardo: Moradas del Color, see Gloria Carnevali, “El Espacio en la pintura de Mercedes Pardo” (doc. no. 1102285); María Fernanda Palacios, “Pintura y vida” (doc. no. 1102253); and Miriam Freilich, “El arte es revelación, no producción” (doc. no. 1325266).]