Edgar Negret

EDGAR NEGRET (Colombia, 1920-2012).
"Temple", 1976.
Polychrome aluminum. Unique piece.
Certificate of authenticity attached.
It has very slight flaws.
Signed, dated and titled.
Measurements: 38 x 120 x 70 cm.
For Negret, no title is conceived at random so that his works always refer to a construction as in this particular case, titled Temple, a concept to which Negret resorted throughout his career. Edgar Negret believed that mechanical forms devoid of function acquired a magical quality. He was also known for combining images of industrial structures with others observed in nature in his abstract geometric sculptures.
Along with Hugo Martínez González and Eduardo Ramírez Villamizar, he introduced abstract and geometric sculpture in Colombia in the mid-20th century. His works are characterized by an extensive use of iron and aluminum as structural and formal material, joining their sheets and parts by means of nuts and bolts. His sculptures are also characterized by the use of geometric elements and compositional rigor. There are several of his sculptures in public spaces in Bogota and Medellin. In 1962 he exhibited his Eclipses in Espoleto with Venezuelan sculptors Jesús Rafael Soto and Alejandro Otero.
In 1963 he participated in the XV National Salon of Artists of Colombia and won the first prize in Sculpture, with Vigilante celeste. In 1967 he again won first prize at the XIX National Salon, with Cabo Kennedy. In June 2009 he held his most recent retrospective at the Mundo Gallery in Bogota. On September 28, 2010, the National Government of Colombia, in the framework of the ninetieth anniversary of his birth and the 25th anniversary of the creation of his Casa Museo in Popayán (Cauca), awarded him the Grand Order of the Ministry of Culture.