Gego: Measuring Infinity at the Guggenheim

Upon entering the Guggenheim, visitors enter at the bottom of the spiral gallery space that displays an installation of abstract work by former architect and engineer Gego, or Gertrud Goldschmidt. This exhibition is a retrospective of Gego’s work from the 1950s to the 1990s exploring line, space, and its relationship to architecture. As guests walk up through the ramps of the museum they are first greeted with delicate, almost hair thin, silver wire sculptures hanging from the ceiling and freestanding on their own. Accompanying these sculptures are drawings, prints, textile works, artist’s books, and photographs of previous art installations and architectural projects. Her engineering background also allowed for optical effects to occur as a part of the experience of viewing her work. All of her works have a sense of line and space and you can see the progression of these explorations as you move up through the museum. As her art career progressed her work started as substantial and solid architectural sculptures and moved into intricate sculptures, all maintaining a relationship with line and space. You can see her architectural and engineering background come through more in her earlier works but as she developed her artistic process her work would begin to move further into the realm of fine art.

As a German-Venezuelan artist, Gego’s work is an important contribution to Latin American art influencing several art movements in Caracas, Venezuela, including geometric abstraction and kinetic art. Her work was vital in the development of Latin American modern and contemporary art. Although her work is lesser known within the United States, this exhibition will expand her artistic reach to a whole new audience to educate about contemporary Latin American art and architecture.

-Ella Mackinson