The Space Between Things

To celebrate the release of  Waltercio Caldas in Conversation with/en conversación con Ariel Jiménez, the ninth volume in its acclaimed bilingual publication series Conversations/Conversaciones, the Colección Patricia Pehls de Cisneros (CPPC) has invited Brazilian artist Waltercio Caldas and Venezuelan writer, curator, and art historian, Ariel Jiménez to share their reflections with the NYPL public for their Art Talks series. They are joined by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, Director and Chief Curator of the CPPC, and a specialist on the artist’s work. The conversation will cover more than five decades of artistic production of one of Brazil’s most recognized contemporary artists. One of the issues discussed will be the challenges involved in representing the visual arts through photography and the printed page. The event is open to the public, RSVP is encouraged. 

Waltercio Caldas was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1946. He has had solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin, the Kanaal Art Foundation in Belgium, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, the Centro Galego de Arte Contemporáneo in Santiago de Compostela, among other venues. Caldas participated in the Venice Biennial in 1997 and 2007, as well as several São Paulo and Mercosul Biennials in Brazil. His work is in collections around the world, including those of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin; the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; the Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo; the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, Caracas and New York; and the Bruce and Diane Halle Collection, Scottsdale.

Ariel Jiménez is an historian and curator of modern and contemporary art. He has curated numerous exhibitions in public and private institutions in Venezuela, Latin America, and the United States. He was Director of the Education Department at the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Caracas (1984–86); General Director of the exhibition hall at Fundación Eugenio Mendoza in Caracas (1989–97); Chief Curator at Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (1997–2011); and Director of Museo de Arte Moderno Jesús Soto in Ciudad Bolívar (2004–06). Currently, he works as Independent Curator and Advisor for the Colección Ignacio y Valentina Oberto in Caracas. He is a widely published author whose titles include: Soto, a monograph (Caracas: Fundación Jesús Soto and Fundación Banco de Venezuela, 2007); Alfredo Boulton y sus contemporáneos. Diálogos críticos en el arte venezolano. 1912–1974 (New York: MoMA and Fundación Cisneros, 2010) and four titles in the Conversaciones/Conversations series with Carlos Cruz-Diez (2010), Jesús Soto (2001 & 2011), Ferreira Gullar (2011); and this latest with Waltercio Caldas (2016).

Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro has been Director and Chief Curator of the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros, New York and Caracas, since 2007. He holds a PhD in Art History and Theory from the University of Essex. In 2007 he was chief curator of the 6th Mercosul Biennial in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Dr. Pérez-Barreiro has published extensively on modern and contemporary art from Latin America and is a specialist on Caldas’ work and career. He recently curated a solo show of Caldas' work at the Blanton Museum of Art, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, and Fundação Iberê Camargo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

About the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros
Founded in the 1970s by Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and Gustavo A. Cisneros, the CPPC is one of the core cultural and educational initiatives of the Fundación Cisneros. Based in NYC and Caracas, Venezuela, its mission is to enhance appreciation of the diversity, sophistication, and range of art from Latin America, advance scholarship of Latin American art, and promote excellence in visual arts education. 

About The New York Public Library
The New York Public Library is a free provider of education and information for the people of NY and beyond. With 92 locations—including research and branch libraries—throughout the Bronx, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the Library offers free materials, computer access, classes, exhibitions, programming and more to everyone from toddlers to scholars, and has seen record numbers of attendance and circulation in recent years. The New York Public Library serves more than 18 million patrons who come through its doors annually and millions more around the globe who use its resources at www.nypl.org.

This lecture was organized by the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs at The New York Public Library in partnership with Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros (CPPC).