Nueva Figuración
Description
Nueva Figuración (translated New Figuration or Neofiguration) was an artistic movement in Spain and Latin America, specifically Argentina, Mexico, and Venezuela, that embraced a new form of figurative art in response to both abstraction and traditional forms of representation. Artists advocated a return to the human figure and everyday reality. They also rejected the aestheticized forms of traditional art, employing informal techniques, expressionism, and collage. Read more ↗
Key Artists
Luis Felipe Noé
Co-founder of the Argentine 'Otra Figuración' group; championed 'chaos as structure' through fragmented canvases, chaotic brushwork, and multi-piece installations.
Jorge de la Vega
Co-founder of 'Otra Figuración'; integrated monster imagery, crushed mirrors, and found objects into paintings expressing psychological existentialism and urban alienation.
Rómulo Macció
Co-founder of 'Otra Figuración'; known for visceral, gestural portraits with distorted, expressive heads that challenged polite academic realism.
Ernesto Deira
Co-founder of 'Otra Figuración'; employed raw, slashing line work and intense colors to depict figures entangled in existential struggle and historical trauma.
Jacobo Borges
Leading Venezuelan Neofigurative painter who utilized dramatic chiaroscuro, grotesque satire, and dense impasto to critique political elites and social corruption.
Arnold Belkin
Canadian-Mexican muralist and painter who co-founded the 'Nueva Presencia' group in Mexico, using expressive anatomy to denounce war and human oppression.
Famous Artworks
Fun Facts
The Argentine group 'Otra Figuración' debuted in August 1961 at the Galería Peuser in Buenos Aires with an exhibition titled 'Otra Figuración', which united Noé, de la Vega, Macció, and Deira in a shared revolt against rigid geometric abstraction.
↗ Source: en.wikipedia.org
Luis Felipe Noé developed a radical theoretical treatise titled 'Antiestética' (Anti-aesthetics) in 1965, arguing that contemporary Latin American artists must embrace chaotic structure to accurately represent their fractured social reality.
↗ Source: moma.org