AIZENBERG-page

Roberto Aizenberg (Entre Ríos, 1928 - Buenos Aires, 1996)

“I believe that all art is science and all science, art… Painting is an exact science. Like science, it stretches the limits of knowledge”.

Aizenberg studied architecture for a year before discovering his future was in painting, and joining the workshops of Antonio Berni and Juan Batlle Planas, both Surrealist pioneers in the Buenos Aires art scene of their time. Architectural structures and geometrical shapes would soon become a key element in the development of a very personal iconography, rooted in surrealism and metaphysical painting. One that spans along a five decade career and through multiple techniques, such as oil painting, drawing, collage, etching, sculpture and jewelry design.

The represented objects, with their sharp edges and muted colors, often resemble buildings or towers, with endless rows of tiny empty windows, much like ancient monuments or abandoned cities. They are set in unlikely landscapes, where the earth is a dark and reddish hue, and only takes up a thin portion of space, against huge bright skies in gradients of blue, green and yellow, which might evoke those of Aizenberg´s birthplace in Entre Ríos. Sometimes, the central feature of these enigmatic compositions are multi-faceted shapes -resembling fans or umbrellas- suspended in space. In others, it is curvilinear figures in contrasting colors, which we can recognize as human. Treading a fine line between figuration and abstraction, these striking images arouse feelings of uncertainty and existential uneasiness. The impossible combination of these elements create dreamlike atmospheres, sometimes peaceful, other times nostalgic but in all cases unsettling, like a symbolic language which we cannot access.