Marco Ospina was a painter, writer, and graphic designer who served as the director of the National University of Colombia’s School of Fine Arts for four decades, starting in 1948. In the 1940s, as the influence of an Indigenist, figurative style of art waned, many Colombian painters began experimenting with a more abstract pictorial language. As a result, a paring down of line and shape towards more elemental forms becomes evident in Ospina’s work. Still, Ospina – who would often paint landscapes – continues to reference nature and tangible objects. It was not until the 1950s that he severed his work’s connection with the outside world, directing his focus primarily towards form. Abstracto (n.d.) is arguably characteristic of this period of Ospina’s production. In this painting, rounded, organic forms and hues of purple, blue, green, and cream are abruptly and pronouncedly broken by line, forming three separate sections. The perspective is far flatter than his previous work, becoming two-dimensional – a key feature of abstraction.
This is the first time the work of Marco Ospina is presented at Biennale Arte.
—Diego Chocano
