Gallerist brings Uruguayan art to Beijing

Squares, circles and triangles of vibrant colors neatly line up on the canvases, forming orderly compositions of mathematical allure that enchant and mystify viewers in equal measure.

Those geometric shapes, by Uruguayan artist Carlos Presto, are close to each other but carefully separated with small gaps between them, evoking the social distance that people had to practice when the COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging the world.

Presto's paintings are on display at his solo exhibition Games of Illusion at the Uruguayan Art Space in Beijing's 798 art district until Sept 20, offering Chinese audiences a window into the Latin American country's contemporary art.

Mostly selected from the artist's Virus Series, with works reflecting the experience during the pandemic, representing in different forms an analysis and recreation of social estrangement and the search for a reunion, said Uruguayan gallerist Diana Saravia, who co-curated the exhibition with Chinese curator Zhang Siyong.

"The purity of Presto's work makes us wonder how he achieves such technical perfection. His passion for rigorous mathematical calculation turns his circles and squares into a complex and ordered puzzle of great beauty," Saravia told the China Daily website during a recent interview.

Presto, 64, is also one of around 20 artists represented by the Diana Saravia Gallery in Montevideo, Uruguay's capital and largest city.

Fernando Lugris, Uruguayan ambassador to China, commended Saravia as a leading figure in Uruguay's contemporary art scene. Yet, the 52-year-old gallerist came from humble beginnings.

"I was born in Cerro de las Cuentas, a small town of 300 inhabitants. At the age of 18 I set out for Montevideo, a city that allowed me to develop my studies and activity and where today, with more than 25 years of work, I position myself as a leading and avant-garde woman in the cultural scene of my country," she said.

Calling herself an enthusiastic, courageous woman dedicated to the management, dissemination and marketing of works of art in the local and international circuit, Saravia started as a salesperson, which helped her to learn how to sell artwork at international art fairs.

During a talk she gave at the Uruguayan embassy in Beijing on Friday, the curator lamented that despite Uruguay's booming contemporary art, the country has a small art market, which necessitates bringing the country's art to the global market.

"Believe me, the level of art in Uruguay is marvelous. We just need to be able to show it to the world," she said.