Works ON & OF Paper - Modern and Contemporary, Autumn 2005   Cecilia de Torres, Ltd. presents works of paper by 33 modern and contemporary artists that exemplify the infinite possibilities of the medium. A selection of diverse styles that date from 1936 to the present includes fine line figure drawings, writings, collages of multicolor paper, stitching with charcoal blackened thread, ink stains, digital prints, 1950s geometric abstractions, painterly temperas, graphisms, cut-out paper sculpture, and mobiles. The exhibition installation presents four aspects: painterly, geometric, sculptural and textual. The first impressions of New York by José Gurvich date to 1971, when the artist moved from Israel to the Lower East Side of Manhattan. These sketches are the unique vision of the diverse aspects of City life from the perspective of an outsider; detailed renderings of trashcans, sign posts, and symbols of America, like the rubbing of a Kennedy half dollar coin and the American flag. Lidya Buzio’s characteristic buildings, rendered here in ink & watercolor, bring a witty view of Downtown Manhattan. Jose Gurvich New York, (Kennedy Half Dollar), 1971 Watercolor, ink, color pencil, 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 in.   Lidya Buzio Buildings, 2003 Ink and watercolor, 6 1/2 x 6 7/8 in. Manuel Pailós and Inés Bancalari exhibit portraits and figure studies in fine ink lines. Cecilia de Torres, 2004 Manuel Pailós Face, ca. 1958 Ink, 13 1/2 x 10 in.   Manuel Otero Untitled, 1988 Ink and watercolor, 7 3/4 x 9 1/2 in.   Inés Bancalari Reclining nude, ca. 2000 Ink, 8 x 11 1/8 in. In a letter dated December 31, 1947, by J. Torres-García, writing and drawing are seamlessly integrated by the uniformly strong emphasis of line and text. Luis Fernando Roldán colors with graphite the thread he uses to write with stitches; an Untitled 1966 lithograph made at the Tamarind Lithography Workshop represents the work Gego made while she was in Los Angeles. Gego, who explored the expressive potential of line, here invests it with an enigmatic and irreverent character by intersecting a field of parallel lines with irregular marks.   J. Torres-GarcÍa Illustrated letter to Julio Payró Dec. 31, 1947. Ink, 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 in.   Luis Fernando Roldán Untitled, 2004 Charcoal threads, 13 3/4 x 16 1/4 in.   Gego, (Gertrude Goldsmidt) Untitled, 1966 Lithograph 31 3/4 x 23 1/2in. "We show two examples from the series titled Vestiges, by Ana María Maiolino where she worked with ink lines, drops and stains. According to the artist, they were done with a minimum of material presence, they are like "a breath, an aspiration of life, just enough to register my inner impulse.” Two 1936 ink drawings of geometric shapes interspersed with written words by Héctor Ragni antecede León Ferrari's "calligraphic drawings," where the distinction between writing and drawing is erased, his tangled scrawls imbue calligraphy with new meaning. They were intended as a form of political denunciation capable of evading censorship and reprisal during Argentina's military dictatorship. Ana María Maiolino Serie Vestigios II, 2003 Ink, 17 x 11 3/4 in.   Héctor Ragni Untitled, written drawing, ca.1936 Ink, 7 3 /4 x 5 in.   León Ferrari Untitled, 1962 Ink, 16 1/2 x 13 1/4 in. The poet and artist Cecilia Vicuna generously lent us the original manuscript for her recently published book Instan. Vicuna’s unique way of combining drawing and writing: lines that turn into words and in turn unraveled words reveal their inner associations, allowing metaphors and hidden meanings contained in them to come to light. Marco Maggi draws in the thinnest pencil lines, aerial views of impossible city maps, infinitesimal and undecipherable. Cecilia Vicuna Drawing for her book Instan, 2002 Pencil, 11 x 8 1/2 in.   Juan Calzadilla Untitled (dedicated to C.V.), 1998 Ink and watercolor, 9 1/2 x 11 in.   Marco Magg Time Tables V, 2002 Pencil, 12 x 9 in. In the geometric and painterly category, three artists from Uruguay: Antonio Llorens, Amalia Nieto, and María Freire, represent 1950s geometric abstractions. Antonio Llorens Untitled, ca.1950 Tempera on paper board   Amalia Nieto Payasos II, 1958 Lithograph, 27 3/8 x 20 3/8 in.   María Freire Untitled, 1956 Tempera, 22 x 15 1/4 in. Gustavo Serra paints mysterious interiors; Juan Iribarren's gouaches are all about light, each one of the vertical brushstrokes is a gesture that records a specific tone and color of light-shadow bands reflected on a wall. The different viscosities of the layered gouache accents generate a system of fractured edges and of color pools. Gustavo Serra Studio Muse, ca.2000 Tempera, 12 x 15 1/4 in.   Juan Iribarren Verticales, 2004 Gouache, 12 x 83 in.   Ladd Spiegel Of Human Bondage, 1999 Tempera & enamel, 8 x 5 1/4 in. César Paternosto returned in 1996 to an old idea; softening the rhythmic color lines done with watercolor pencil by going over them with a wet brush, hence the title created by the poet Cecilia Vicuna for these elegant works: "Hilos de agua,"(Water Threads). Ladd Spiegel paints geometric shapes in black and white on a color field painted on old book pages. Through a thin layer of color, the print is slightly visible, providing metaphorically and literally, an underlying structuring. For Ana Tiscornia her "Homeless Sites" digital prints refer to forgetfulness and to the fact that memory has to be constantly adjusted. She draws architectural plans directly on the computer using Photoshop and Illustrator programs, to which she adds transparent layers of corrections, as she records the sites where a homeless person settled and later moved. César Paternosto Hilos de Agua, 1998 Watercolor pencils, 22 x 22 in.   Eugenio Espinoza Human, 2004 Mixed collage, 22 x 29 1/2 in   Ana Tiscornia Homeless Site, 2002-2004 Digital print, 10 3/4 x 13 3/4 in. Luis Lizardo and Marta Chilindron use paper as volume, Lizardo rips bits of paper strips that are woven with nylon filament in a hanging aerial sculpture. Chilindron’s colored paper Still Life becomes volumetric, as each flat element is unfolded. Ernesto Villa recreated within a box, the effect of paper blown by the wind in refuse dumps, where the eye catches glimpses of celebrity figures among the kaleidoscope of debris. Luis Lizardo Untitled, hanging sculpture, 2004 (detail) Paper & nylon filament, 53 x 33 in. Variable   Marta Chilindron Still Life, 2005 Paper, 8 3/8 x 8 3/8 x 3 1/2in. Variable   Ernesto Vila Retrato de Primavera, 1995 Cut paper, tempera, 47 x 37 3/4 in. The Constructivist tradition is represented by Taller Torres-García artist Julio Alpuy; a Christmas Day drawing by Francisco Matto; early abstractions by Augusto Torres who with Carmelo de Arzadun were members of the important modernist group the Association of Constructivist Art that in the 1930s produced in Montevideo some of the earliest geometric abstractions in the Americas. An early ink & wash structure by Gonzalo Fonseca prefigures by many years his later stone sculptures. Julio Alpuy Composition, 1950 Watercolor, 13 3/4 x 13 3/4.   Francisco Matto Navidad, 1964 Ink and watercolor, 15 5/2 x 11 1/2 in. Augusto Torres Untitled, ca.1936 Ink, 7 3/4 x 12 5/8 in.   Carmelo de Arzadun Untitled, 1936 Drypoint, 4 1/2 x 4 3/8 in.   Gonzalo Fonseca Untitled, (Project for a Sculpture) ca.1956 Ink and watercolor, 8 1/4 x 5 1/8 in. Ernesto Silva Composición, 1977 Tempera and ink, 15 x 22 1/2 in.   Alfredo Ramírez Serie Astro, 2003-04 (detail) Black Graphite, 73 x 20 3/4 in.