The XXXI Salón Anual de Artistas Colombianos [XXXI Annual Colombian Artists’ Salon] was presented at the Enrique Olaya Herrera airport in Medellín, where a space was provided to show the 249 works involved (there were fifty-nine invited artists and ninety chosen participants.) On this occasion, the prizes went to Luis Fernando Peláez (b. 1945) for his work Sin título [Untitled] (1987) and Doris Salcedo (b. 1952) for her installation Sin título [Untitled]. The former work consisted of a research project on space and its expressive possibilities, and Salcedo’s submission was a montage of hospital waste matter. The Salón also included a tribute exhibition in honor of Débora Arango (1907–2005). The Colombian historian, curator, and critic Eduardo Serrano (b. 1939) identifies the artists whose work, in his opinion, saved the thirty-first edition of the Salón. He calls on Colcultura, in no uncertain terms, to review both its role as promoter of the event and its artistic standards. Submissions from 150 artists notwithstanding, Serrano does not consider this an impressive exhibition; on the contrary, he is critical of the lack of rigor he sees in almost all the works involved. Carolina Ponce de León (b. 1957) and José Hernán Aguilar (b. 1952), two noted Colombian art critics from the 1980s, expressed their opinions in two critical essays—“El Salón en Bogotá” [The Salon in Bogotá] (see doc. no. 1083090) and “Sala de espera nacional” [National Waiting Room] (Arte, Nº 4, 2nd Quarter of 1988), respectively—concerning the lack of criteria in the selection of works and the irresponsible behavior of the organizers, artists, and critics involved. Ponce de León and Aguilar mention the submissions they believe stood out as a result of the formal risks the artists in question took or the conceptual and lines of inquiry they explored. The works submitted by young artists of that period reflected a mood of experimentation that focused on a consolidation of languages; most of all they were concerned with an exploration of unconventional materials. They developed this approach as a result of their exposure to international ideas that spawned a diverse range of works. Although the paintings dominated the show, the exploratory nature of the installations and photographic works set them apart from the well-known, consolidated languages of the invited artists. At the time he wrote this article, Serrano was the general curator at the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá, a position he held for twenty years. He has published a number of books, including Historia de la fotografía en Colombia [A History of Photography in Colombia] and Andrés de Santamaría, pintor colombiano de resonancia universal [Andrés de Santamaría: A Colombian Painter with Universal Appeal].
