In this interview with Fernando Gamboa who, at that time, was director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de México, the author refers to the exhibition that Carlos Cruz-Diez has opened in Mexico City. The article addresses three main subjects. First, the artist who, in the author’s opinion, has portrayed the present with a technique that is typical of his time in works that are full of imagination and refinement, a true interpreter of the technological present. It is revealing that the museum director should focus on Cruz-Diez’s techniques, that now also rely on aluminum and stainless steel in addition to petroleum-based materials. His works have an undeniably innovative and radical air about them that is different from anything contemporary Mexican artists are doing, including the abstract group.
The article’s second point addresses the cultural exchange between Mexico and Venezuela that was organized with support from both countries. Gamboa notes that a large share of his annual program is devoted to Venezuelan art, having already organized three exhibitions: one for Alejandro Otero, one for Jacobo Borges, and this one of recent work by Carlos Cruz-Diez. Gamboa announces that he would like to organize an exhibition, Maestros de la América Latina, which would include these three artists plus Jesús Soto and other great artists from the region. In fact, a one-man show for Soto is in the works. At the other end of this exchange, the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas will present an exhibition of works by Rufino Tamayo, followed by one for Manuel Felguérez.
Gamboa expresses his admiration for the strength of the Venezuelan art movement as seen in its museums, galleries, and researchers such as Alfredo Boulton, the art critic who is closely involved with the visual arts. He thanks the state of Venezuela for all the support it provides to promote its artists further afield. It is interesting to note that whereas this cultural exchange between the two countries is focused on Geometric Abstraction and Kinetic art—no doubt because of the success these trends enjoyed in Venezuela—the greatest impact that Mexican art ever had in Venezuela happened in the 1940s because of Mexican muralism. It is odd that the director of the Museo de Arte Moderno de México doesn’t refer to the considerable influence the muralists (David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco) had on entire generations of Venezuelan artists.