Omar Carreño

OMAR CARREÑO (Venezuela, 1927-2013).
"Victoria", 1990.
Oil on canvas.
Signed and dated in the lower right area.
Measurements: 90 x 80 cm; 107 x 97 cm (frame).
This work is characterized by an approach to geometric constructivism that is never confused with rigid schematism. Even in his most voluptuous volumes, the line, the light or the shadow, and sometimes, the hollow, mark a geometric counterpoint that orders and gathers the composition and enriches his points of view. Through an expressive and successful play of colors and lines, of tones and textures, of supports and challenges to gravity, the work transmits an artistic serenity that is instantly transmitted to the viewer. Within a stylistic scheme that inevitably recalls the avant-garde of the last century.
Painter, sculptor, goldsmith and architect Omar Carreño began his artistic training at the Escuela de Bellas Artes y Artes Aplicadas Cristóbal Rojas in Caracas, and later completed this training with the practice acquired at the Taller Libre de Arte, a place he attended from 1948 to 1950, when he left the workshop and decided to move to Paris, a key place of the avant-garde and artistic development of the time. It was in the French capital where he decided to join a group of artists called Dissidents. He returned to his country, Venezuela, in 1956. Recognized by the critics and the public, Omar Carreño began his position as art director of Integral magazine until 1959. Year in which the artist decides to return to Paris where he resides on this occasion for three years. During this time he decided to continue his artistic training and enrolled in the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, the Collège de France and the École du Louvre. It was upon his return to his hometown, when Carreño decided to found the Grupo Expansionista in Caracas, focusing during this time on his work as a teacher.