César Paternosto - Painting as Object: the Lateral Expansion. New Works. 2012 Autumn

César Paternosto - Painting as Object: the Lateral Expansion. New Works.

In the late 1960s, César Paternosto moved the emphasis in his paintings to the outer side edges of the canvas leaving the front blank. By shifting attention to the sides he was questioning the old custom of viewing paintings from the front only. As he expand­ed the range of the pictorial field to the sides, the three dimensionality of the painting turned it into an object.

Painting as Object: The Lateral Expansion, concentrates on the evolution and continuity of César’s idea from his early lateral vision canvases through his most recent works.

Edward J. Sullivan’s catalogue introduction and his thought provoking exchange with the artist in their e-mail dialogue bring significant insights to the innovative concept of painting as object.

Paternosto’s thoughts are succinctly put in his essay Painting as Object: Geometric Forms and Lateral Expansions; and his extensive updated chronology make this cata­logue a substantial document of record.

After living in New York for almost four decades, Paternosto moved to Spain in 2004 where his work received great appreciation following his retrospective exhibition at the Esteban Vicente Museum of Contemporary Art in Segovia. He continues to work and live in Segovia.

An exhibition catalogue with essay by Edward J. Sullivan is available.

César Paternosto

b. 1931 La Plata, Argentina – lives in Segovia, Spain

Around 1957, César Paternosto started creating artworks based on Geometric Abstraction. After attending a serial music concert, he was enthralled by Anton Webern's pregnant silences, which influenced the next development in his art. By the end of the 1960s, Paternosto moved the emphasis of depicted matter in his paintings to the outer-sides of the canvas, leaving the front blank. By shifting the attention to the sides, he was questioning the traditional viewing of paintings frontally, and as the range of the pictorial field was expanded to the sides, the three dimensionality of the painting turned it into an object. His 2012 essay, “Painting as Object: Geometric Forms and Lateral Expansions,” explained the evolution and continuity of his idea, from the early lateral vision canvases, to his most recent work.
In 1977, Paternosto began to travel to Bolivia and Peru to study the archaeological sites Tiwanaku, Ollantaytambo, and Machu Picchu. These trips marked an important turning point in his work sparking new formal explorations in form, composition, and color. By rooting his art in American autochthonous traditions rather than in the modern European model, Paternosto created a new and original type of abstraction based on the centuries-old woven textiles and sculptural stones of the Inca.
Paintings by Paternosto are found in various prestigious collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid; the Kunstmuseum, Bern, Switzerland; and the Städtisches Museum Abteiberg, Mönchengladbach, Germany, amongst others.

Please click for CV and Chronology