New Genres: Pablo Siquier

"Obscene", an unedited exhibition by Pablo Siquier

January 05, 2024 | nadiaevangelina

"Obscene" brings together 12 unpublished works by Pablo Siquier, one of the great Argentine artists who emerged in the 80s under the artistic current of formalism. Through paintings that range from monumental scales to smaller drawings in plots where black and white predominate, the proposal gives an account of his artistic trajectory. The exhibition is held at Macba and is curated by Rodrigo Alonso.

Photo credit: MACBA

The title "Obscene" seems to disorient the viewer by promising something impudent, when one can see a series of works that have never been exhibited before. The common thread is geometry with some alterations, which organize the plane in rigorous black and white, while there are only a few works where color appears contained in less complex forms.

This is Siquier's first exhibition in Buenos Aires in eight years. Curator Rodrigo Alonso explains in the text that "Pablo Siquier's works are impudently oriented towards the gaze. They do not hide their formalist vocation or need to find an echo in the observer. Thus the title is a full recognition of a very recognizable imprint of the artist, who has maintained a long trajectory since the mid-80s.

Siquier's works at the beginning of his career contemplated a certain contrast between the figurative and the abstract, the figure-ground games, and the use of vibrant colors. But from '93 onwards he abandons color and starts to reflect, more and more austerely, pure and precise abstractions, strictly graphic.

MACBA

The big cities are one of the main axes in his work, both in the drawing on the wall with charcoal or graphite pencil and in a digital design. The artist does not refer to any kind of personal emotion or commentary on reality but rather reflects his own version of the experience of living in a big city. A better-known facet of Siquier's work is the murals that can be seen at Los Molinos Building de Faena in Puerto Madero, at the Reina Sofía Museum in Spain, and at the San Martín Cultural Center on Corrientes Street in Buenos Aires. His work has a strong presence in Buenos Aires.

The idea that prevails in all of Siquier's works has resonances with a meticulous construction, of repetition and several possible combinations made on the computer, but with a process that is not so simple because it occupies him with attention for hours and weeks. The forms are sustained in an empty plane, without an atmosphere. In others he appeals to the shadow, always projected in the same way and almost resorting to the same contrast of black and white.

"Obscene" invites a quiet journey, to persevere in the substance that alludes to a vibration of multiple visual stimuli that recall the complex city of Buenos Aires, its varied architectural densities, and the impacts that these forms leave in our experience.