Drawing without Paper 84/25 and 84/26 1984

Editor: So, this intriguing piece is titled "Drawing without Paper 84/25 and 84/26," created by Gego in 1984. It looks to be made from mixed metals and hangs in space. My first impression is that it feels like a constellation of lines, almost architectural in its structure. What do you see in this work? Curator: It does, doesn't it? It feels almost as though Gego is redrawing space itself! Look at the way she uses linear elements, wire primarily, to build this floating structure. What comes to my mind when I see these 'drawings without paper' are not constellations, but maybe something a little sadder like wreckage, like the remains of what might have once been functional or architectural? Do you feel the tension between structure and fragility? Editor: I do. It's like a deconstructed blueprint, or perhaps an exploded diagram of something. Was Gego responding to the architecture of her time, or was she thinking of something else? Curator: It's definitely a meditation on drawing and sculpture, wouldn't you agree? A refusal to accept conventional limitations. Now, Gego was working in Venezuela, and she's playing with the legacy of geometric abstraction and constructivism. But I wonder...does this work appear celebratory to you or does it seem elegiac and forlorn? I think you're spot on, by the way, regarding architectural connections...Gego initially trained as an architect. Editor: I see a mix, actually. The bright colours and geometry have an optimistic, almost playful quality, yet the hanging, fragmented nature hints at something incomplete or even broken. The longer I look at it the more I start to see new, slightly melancholic undertones, like things undone... Curator: Perhaps like plans abandoned, or even like lost things refashioned in the artist’s mind, then remade by her hand? Beautiful, no? Editor: Absolutely beautiful. I'll never look at line drawings quite the same way!