Caracas 1957

Lolo Soldevilla made this collage, Caracas, using paper and glue, at an unknown date. What strikes me about this piece is Soldevilla's playful arrangement of geometric forms, like she's working out an equation with shapes instead of numbers. The textures and colors here are so rich, even though they’re muted. I love the way the striped papers play against the solid blocks of color. Look at that dark blue rectangle near the center; it’s so simple, yet it anchors the whole composition. You can almost feel the roughness of the paper and the slight imperfections in the stripes. It's a reminder that artmaking is as much about the materials as it is about the idea. The linear arrangement and geometric forms remind me of a melding of Russian Constructivism with American Minimalism, as if Soldevilla is both referencing history and also making something completely new. It’s a conversation across time, a reminder that art is always building upon what came before.