Color exists only as something perceived. It does not have a being, strictly speaking, but is the result of wavelengths of

light upon objects. It is purely vibration and energy, a force that moves the world at its primordial base, as a biochemical

entity: it lies at the foundation of essential processes such as photosynthesis, nourishment, or poison.

When art chooses to focus on color rather than form, it enters into a process of exploration that is purely material yet,

paradoxically, awakens a psychic dimension that can touch the spiritual. Abstraction then reaches an emotional plane, and

the work exists as both a physical and a metaphysical entity, but never in a complete way, because each change of light,

perspective, and angle impacts the nuances of colorimetry. Thus, the experience before these works will be unique, deeply

personal, and unrepeatable.

In this exhibition, color takes center stage in two distinct yet complementary poetics. Marisa Purcell works with precision

and refinement on large chromatic planes that operate as presences. They do not seek to signify beyond the concreteness

of their delicate beauty, nor do they function as deictics, but rather as translations of states of mind, radiating their aura in

the exhibition space. Her driving force is light and, therefore, also shadow. Purcell has expressed her fascination with

windows and the effects of natural light upon her paintings, in which color gradients are achieved through the superposition

of translucent pictorial layers, where pigments add depth thanks to the artist’s meticulous process—energetically passing

the brush again and again until reaching the characteristic finish of her work. Perhaps for this reason, her paintings are like

portals to infinite possible realities, deferred times, or perhaps simply emotional trompe l’oeils.

Graziela Guardino, on the other hand, takes her art into an exploration of color and texture through the use of textiles and

wood. The result is a kind of painting that appeals to the senses. Touch is crucial for this artist, whose works uniquely

combine minimalism with the warmth of materiality. Her work is in dialogue with the tradition of Brazilian Neoconcretism, in

which abstraction is expressed organically and fluidly, in keeping with the culture and the lush territory of that country. In her

pieces, straight lines and angles give way when the canvas frays and gravity comes into play, generating suggestive

sinuosities that allow for movement and lightness. As an unexpected twist, this shift in system—from the formality of the

pictorial canvas to hanging threads and, at times, back to the picture plane—also allows for the introduction of chance

elements such as shadow, pause, and enigma. These are dynamic paintings that at times behave like sculptures, where

the fabric is not merely the passive support for pigments but a presence in its own right, with its own plastic qualities.

Although color has been a central concern in art throughout the ages, it was in the twentieth century that abstraction freed

it from form and narrativity. Artists such as Joan Miró, Mark Rothko, or Carmen Herrera approached color in an almost

metaphysical way, pursuing mental or conscious states emanating from large pictorial planes as portals to psychic

experiences. What, then, is the meaning of experimenting with color today? In the two cases presented here, there is a

deceleration in the processing of the image that contrasts with the vertiginous pace of our times. In the face of today’s

hyper-acceleration, in which our experience of the world is increasingly mediated by the screen, pictorial abstraction can

reactivate horizons of meaning in relation to time and materiality, and ultimately, to the aesthetic experience.

Through pictorial art, visuality can summon aesthetic and sensorial experiences of great richness, especially with regard to

touch, because within it there are textures and temperature, as well as movement and gesture. It thus introduces the

dimension of the body into a world of virtuality, and far from the voracious consumption with which images from advertising

and social media are swallowed, these two artists create a visuality that calls for observation and enjoyment. The

meticulousness of their execution, which is also intensely physical, presupposes work of great concentration that at times

approaches the ritual, involving the repetition of gestures and movements that prefigure mental states. Perhaps for this

reason, when we see them, we receive a call to calm.

Words by Diana Cuéllar Ledezma Research Fellow at the Cisneros Institute/MoMA and an adviser and contributor for

Phaidon’s Latin American Artists: From 1785 to Now

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