The exhibit "Pioneras" at CAF Gallery brings together four emblematic Venezuelan plastic artists of the XX Century

Four ladies worked with passion in their artistic creation and showed their capacity to assimilate the influence of the great plastic movements of their era. This stands out in their comprehensive development which left a legacy in Venezuelan art history. CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, is celebrating the 20 years of CAF Gallery, joining efforts with the National Gallery of Art (GAN, for its acronym in Spanish) in its 40th anniversary, and some private collectors, to present the exhibition "Pioneras" (Pioneers), showing works from artists Mary Brandt, Elsa Gramcko, Luisa Palacios, and Maruja Rolando, as a homage to women in their determination to reach prominent places in society. 

The show, which belongs mostly to the GAN, is made up of a series of significant works that have been shown in museums, participated in national and international shows, or received awards in important competitions. 

Enrique Garcia, CAF's Executive President, explained "We have decided to value the role of what is feminine by paying homage to four Venezuelan artists who were precursors of new plastic trends in Venezuela in the middle of the XX century. They were also pioneers in projecting their gender to the national culture. The work of Mary Brandt, Elsa Gramcko, Luisa Palacios, and Maruja Rolando lives on and it is incorporated into the collections of Venezuelan and foreign museums". 

The works of these artists express vivacity not only in their strong lines but also in the materials used. The four seek to break the limits and go beyond the traditional schemes of the society to which they belong with an unusual artistic production. 

Mariela Provenzali, curator of CAF Gallery, said, "It is delightful to gather a minimal representation of the work of these artists in one space, to show the high artistic level they achieved, and glimpse at their important participation in the world of plastic arts in the second half of the XX Century in Venezuela".

Joined by an attitude seeking the essential in their creative fields, they also share an esthetic and poetic ambition. Their legacies make up a complex framework that helps value the commitment assumed by an artist when they dynamically take their personal search toward an expression of vanguard. 

The artists

Dominated by an inner drive that led her to break the rules, in her work, Mary Brandt shows the need to go beyond the conventional. As if in an urgent need to be rebellious, her impetuous character may be perceived in a subtle way in an exquisite and at the same time sarcastic drawing of the mundane in graphite, as well as in the tear or folding of a fabric where you can see the explosion of the medium and the color. She seems to have lived between two poles, abstract in painting and figurative in drawing, joining them in an extraordinary graphic work. 

Elsa Gramcko   manages to set her impeccable and intuitive composition both in the most clear and delicate abstraction on fabric, as well as in her constructive work carried out with coarse materials. Both expressions have an undertone that is close to poetry. Her palette reminds of the nitrous city of her childhood and adolescence, the landscape that saw her grow up and which seems to have been her imaginary source. Her informalist work, joined to the passion for matter and the incorporation of particular objects make her one of the greatest landmarks of national contemporary art. 

Talented in painting since her childhood, of a curious nature and avid to absorb knowledge, 
Luisa Palacios related to the intellectual world in social gatherings with renowned national and international creators. This encouraged her to establish a renowned workshop, important center of thought and experimentation, starting cutting edge techniques that led her to become a precursor of modern engraving in the country. The gestural virtuosity of her neo-figurative painting suggests an emotional content that shows a splendid and supportive gesture with the human condition. 

Maruja Rolando left an extensive work in her short life. Of great sensibility and simplicity, her artistic development was characterized as being free and without ties. The permanent search for her own language took her to explore trends that set the tone at the time, delving into informalism. Her passion for architecture took her to imagine environments and spaces that may be perceived in her painting. Her graphic work may be read as support of the imagined spaces, as if a structure was supporting the pictorial mass that characterizes her work.  

With the objective of promoting actions that lead to the achievement of gender equity, CAF presents Pioneras, its 70th exhibition, and interprets a feeling that is strongly felt at this time: rescue and promote the role of women in the economic, social, and cultural development of nations.