Geometry Beyond Limits

Jean Cherqui, ed. Laura Maggioni and texts by Serge Lemoine and Matthieu Poirier

A catalogue of Latin American contemporary art from the Jean and Colette Cherqui collection, Published in conjunction with the exhibition Geometory Beyond Limitsat the Maison de l’Amérique latine, Paris, 2010. Within the collection are works by artists, Carlos Cruz-Diez, Miguel Chevalier, Luis Tomasello and Antonio Asis

“Modern and contemporary painting has been our world for the last forty years by way of exhibitions, galleries, auction rooms, workshops and endless books on art and art history, and it is now clear that our deepest interest lies in “constructed abstract art”. We started by collecting the work of classical and impressionist artists, the Paris school and so on. In the 1970s, Nathalie Seroussi opened a young, dynamic space known as Galerie Quincampoix. That is where we first saw Arden Quin’s work.
At last, the essential could be said with a relatively reduced alphabet, which resulted in sparing, delicate yet playful geometric works. It was art without effects, but the effect on us was mind-blasting.
From then on, we rather frenetically accumulated a lot of works of “geometric abstraction” rom all the continents, particularly Latin America and Europe, between which Arden Quin spanned the gap exactly. Lines, circles and squares were the simple tools shared by the artists we chose. Our interest in optical and kinetic art came later.
Geometrical forms were animated by optical illusions, physical movements or even just slight shifts in light.
Our adventure took on a new dimension. ” – Colette and Jean Cherqui

Jean Cherqui, Geometry Beyond Limits, 5 Continents Editions srl, 2010

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