/ARTS WEEKLY/SCULPTURE-VENEZUELA: Vandals Wreak Havoc and Go Unpunished

By Humberto Márquez Reprint | | Print |

Humberto Márquez

CARACAS, Aug 2 2004 (IPS) - Venezuela is facing the risk of losing valuable public sculptures as vandals go unpunished, wrote art expert Axel Stein in a letter to the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Stein, a Venezuelan art researcher and representative of the British art auctioneers Sotheby’s, wrote to UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, warning of “the destruction of Venezuela’s cultural heritage, with the systematic dismantling of works of art.”

In the letter, Stein cites the cases of the kinetic works “Esfera Caracas”, by Jesús Soto, “Abra Solar” by Alejandro Otero and “Fisiocromía” by Carlos Cruz Diez, which “have been almost totally destroyed, whereby we presume these thieves are robbing the materials and metal for recycling under the indifferent eye of the authorities.”

These three works by Venezuela’s leading sculptors head a list which goes on to include murals by Gego, some three-dimensional structures in aluminium and colour and the sculpture “Homenaje (Homage) a Carlos Gardel” by Marisol Escobar.

Venezuelan art critic William Niño also mentioned damage to Santos Michelena’s Monumental Fountain in Plaza Venezuela square, where the water recirculation system was removed.

All of the sculptures are public works of art in the squares and plazas of the Venezuelan capital.

Marco Negrón, former dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Development at the Central University of Venezuela, told IPS “there is always a certain amount of aggression toward public works of art. For example, there has been recent vandalism of sculptures in the Ducal Palace and the Church of San Pietro de Castello in Venice.”

“But the difference is that, generally, the authorities (in those places) are concerned and respond to the attacks. In Caracas, we don’t even know the motive for the attacks, as not a single person involved has been arrested,” he added.

Negrón said the cases possibly involve vandalism by people who sell and recycle aluminium, but stressed that someone must have told them the sculptures are made of that metal.

Niño said the “Abra Solar” which stood in the Plaza Venezuela, in east-central Caracas, was the most important work damaged.

“It was shown at a Venice Biennial (International Art Exhibition). It was exhibited in Milan and Montreal. Its creation involved engineers from the Massachussets Institute of Technology in the United States, and apart from its artistic value, it is a very costly piece,” the critic explained to IPS.

After the complaints were made public, the Metro de Caracas, which runs both subway and bus services and owns some of the damaged sculptures, announced it would take responsibility for their restoration.

The company made particular mention of “Homenaje a Carlos Gardel”, locted in the Caño Amarillo subway station, which used to depict the legendary tango singer accompanied by two musicians and a dog.

The dog was stolen months ago and the musicians were removed by the company itself when it decided it was too weakly attached to the base.

As for “Abra Solar” and “Fisiocromía,” Metro de Caracas – which owns a total of 45 works of art – is going to call on their insurance company for help.

Niño said it was possible the kinetic works could be restored, for although they are unique pieces, ”there are blueprints for their construction, and the construction materials can be replaced. The problem is they are very costly sculptures.”

But such efforts will be futile unless the authorities commit themselves to doing a better job guarding the works of art, he said. “Caracas has been a poorly maintained city at times, but it was never vandalised and pillaged as it is now,” he said.

Art curators in Maracaibo, a city 600 km west of Caracas, are also complaining of damage to art works. A series of avant-garde works made in the early 1970s for the Paseo Ciencia location in the historical centre of the city near the Church of the Virgin of Chiquinquirá and the city government building have been removed and stored in poor conditions.

These included “El Trigal” (The Wheatfield), by Jesús Soto, which is currently being kept in the Museum of Modern Art in the western state of Zulia, and “La Virgen” (The Virgin), by Lía Bermúdez, an abstract work which stands on the spot where the Virgin of Chiquinquirá is said to have appeared. Two sculptures by Pedro Vargas and Víctor Valera are also there.

Pedro Romero, former director of the Institute of Cultural Heritage, said the sculptures were “disassembled following no technical critera, and the ones put into storage don’t even have a document certifying where they can be found.”

“That bypassed laws for the protection and defence of cultural heritage, as well as the town planning laws,” Romero told IPS. (END/IPS/LA/CR AE/TRASP-SM-SW/HM/DM/04)