Alejandro Otero’s Colorhythms represent the very first repetitive, serial typology within geometric abstract art in Latin America, anticipating the serial achievements of Hélio Oiticica and Lygia Clark in the late fifties.
A foundational figure in the development of abstraction in the Americas, Alejandro Otero’s seminal Coloritmos series denotes a rigorous and innovative period of conceptual experimentation. These modular paintings executed in Duco, an industrial lacquer, sprayed onto wood panels, with white and dark parallel bands, present vibrating forms of brilliant colors moving across elongated vertical panels, expanding optically against the harmonious rhythm of black bands. Originating in 1955 and produced until 1971, the Colorhythms represent a vital contribution to the spatial ambiguity characteristic of post-war abstraction. Questioning the autonomy of the pictorial field they ultimately claim—by means of their own amplification—a relational link to the exterior of the painting. According to Rita Carvajal, these celebrated works propose a notion of the plane as a resonant spatial field of forces in expansion, functioning simultaneously as painting, volume and urban register. (Resonant Space, The Colorhythms of Alejandro Otero, Pg. 26)
This radical series of works developed consequently to Otero’s involvement with Carlos Raúl Villanueva’s progressive model of urban reinvention which aimed to integrate the visual arts in the architectural program of the Central University of Venezuela. As one of the first and most ambitious urban projects ever envisioned in Latin America, it intended to advance architecture, the visual arts and urbanism through the commissioned of monumental public works in a massive scale. As part of a large group of Venezuelan and foreign artists—including Mateo Manaure, Francisco Narváez, Jesús Rafael Soto, Alexander Calder, Fernand Léger, Jean Arp, and Victor Vasarely—contributing to the project, Otero realized a series of large-scale works in which he first aimed to embrace the space by transcending the conventional limits of painting through rhythmic-chromatic resonances. (Luis Pérez-Oramas) Yet, by 1955, the original and somewhat utopian ideals set forth by the project had given way to the resistance of planners who advocated for the exclusion of art from the urban environment. It was at this juncture, as Otero added later, and as a response to that impasse with bureaucratic power that he began to work on the Colorythms.
The Colorhythms overflow the plane, reach for and embrace architectural space, moving virtually and perceptually towards the viewer. At first, obvious geometric shapes appeared between the lines. Soon thereafter, those shapes became small elongated accents of more subtle sonority. Year later, these forms are grouped into large schemes in which the parallels almost disappear until finally, color and dark bands constitute a single sound block, sometimes very strong, others extremely refined. The Colorhythm evolved, not only as an expressive means but also in terms of shape, color and vibration. The only constants were the parallels and the material used, which gained in subtlety and quality. According to Otero, contrary to what anyone who looks superficially at these compositions might think, they are not the result of a calculation or the fruit of a theory conceived a priori(...). At the very moment he composed the sketches that precede each one of them, rhythm and tensions, shapes and colors followed the course of his intuition.
Works by Alejandro Otero in Important Collections
According to Alfredo Boulton, the Colorhythm forces the viewer, due to the very force that its body emits, to place it within an environmental space with special atmospheric conditions. The power of the visual testimony is so absorbing that it is difficult to appreciate it when viewed in the presence of other works. “In my house in Pampatar, it dominates an entire white wall, the whole environment. Its presence is so outstanding, so predominant, that the traditional classical and academic notion of the function of a painting hanging on a nail changes in dimension and purpose.” (Pintura Venezolana book)
The Coloritmos emphasize their verticality; horizontal cases are scarce. Within this verticality the line becomes oblique, with frequent parallels. The gaze maintains a constant up and down rhythm that reminds us of the one Otero used in the last Cafeteras (Coffee pots) and in the Inclined Lines, minimalist, but this time with another pictorial character. It is an experience activated by the structural assemblage of colors wisely combined to visually obtain ascending movements that shimmer and animate the entire surface of the painting. The feverish rhythm that the composition achieves provokes a visual speed that provides unexpected optical formulations.
In 1956 Alfred Barr acquired Colorhythm 1 for the Museum of Modern art in New York. Otero represented Venezuela at the Venice Biennial in 1956, and again in 1962 and 1966. In 1958, he was awarded the National Prize for Painting at the Venezuelan Official Salon for Colorhythm 35. He was included in the 1958 Pittsburgh Bicentennial International Exhibition of Contemporary Painting and Sculpture at the Carnegie Institute, and in 1959 represented Venezuela in the Sao Paulo Biennial with the Colorhythms, receiving an honorable mention.