Jacobo Borges is a contemporary, neo-figurative Latin- American artist. His curiosity for exploring different mediums made him a painter, drawer, film director, stage designer and plastic artist. Known for his ever-evolving style, there is one constant principle that unites his work: "the search for the creation of space somewhere between dreams and reality where everything has happened, happens, and may happen." His theoretical approach and unique, innovative technique has won him acclaim all over the world. He has had solo exhibitions in France, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Britain and the United States. Today, he is considered one of the most accomplished artist of Latin America. His oeuvre includes a rich body of paintings, a film directed in 1969, and a book The Great Mountain and Its Era, published in 1979. In 1982, a biography by Dore Ashton, called Jacobo Borges, was published in English and Spanish. Jacobo Borges resides in New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 and Caracas, Venezuela. He has a wife, Diana and three children, a daughter named Ximena and two sons, one named Ezequiel and other Emiliano.

Early work

Early in his career, Jacobo Borges studied art at Escuela de Artes Plasticas y Aplicadas (School of Fine Arts) in Caracas from 1949-1951. His formal training was short-live, as he rebelled against the Academic style of teaching and was consequently expelled prior to graduation. This was his first and last attempt at an official education; however, it did not stop him from pursuing his career. That same year, Borges began to work at the Taller Libre de Arte (Free Art Workshop) in Caracas where he exhibited his first painting. The next year, 1952, Borges traveled to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 on the scholarship money that he received from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...

 company. In Paris he began to experiment with bright, bold colors and flat shapes that resulted in the painting Fishing (1956). This work exemplifies Borges’ style during the first decade of his career - with strong influences from the Fauvism

Fauvism

Fauvism is the style of les Fauves , a short-lived and loose group of early twentieth-century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong colour over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism...

 and Cubism

Cubism

Cubism was a 20th century avant-garde art movement, pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture...

 movements. His use of a vibrant and diverse color palate is reminiscent of the Fauvists, while his fragmented composition and use of geometric forms fits into the traditional Cubist practice. The Cubist influence can be attributed to the two years that Borges had spent at the Escuela de Artes Plasticas y Aplicadas where emphasis was heavily placed on studying Cézanne and the Cubist movement. Living in Paris at the time he painted Fishing, Borges refused to experiment with different "art-trends" that were popular in European modernism

Modernism

Modernism, in its broadest definition, is modern thought, character, or practice. More specifically, the term describes the modernist movement, its set of cultural tendencies and array of associated cultural movements, originally arising from wide-scale and far-reaching changes to Western society...

. Instead, he stayed connected with his Latin roots and produced work that was "reminiscent of the Latin American indigenists, who advocated the use of themes and motifs from Indian culture." Borges was therefore often considered a naïve painter among his peers. His first works still lacked a very distinct style for which he is known today.

Neofiguration

Upon returning to Venezuela in 1956, Borges began to develop a more neofigurative style. This was a sharp change from the prevalent Abstraction movement that tended to simplify and generalize content. Neofiguration evolved in response to Abstractionism by returning to the subjective elements of Expressionism and the use of figurative form. For Borges this was a necessary stylistic change in order to express his discontent with the political and social conditions of his country.

After ten years of the dictatorial regime of Marcos Pérez Jiménez

Marcos Pérez Jiménez

Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was a soldier and Presidents of Venezuela from 1952 to 1958.-Career:Marcos Evangelista Pérez Jiménez was born in Michelena, Táchira State. His father, Juan Pérez Bustamante, was a farmer; his mother, Adela Jiménez, a schoolteacher...

, in 1958 Romulo Betancourt

Rómulo Betancourt

Rómulo Ernesto Betancourt Bello , known as "The Father of Venezuelan Democracy", was President of Venezuela from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1959 to 1964, as well as leader of Accion Democratica, Venezuela's dominant political party in the 20th century...

, the leader of the Democratic Action Party

Democratic Action Party

The Democratic Action Party, or DAP is a secular, multi-racial, social democratic Malaysian political party.The DAP is one of the three major opposition parties in Malaysia, along with the PKR and PAS, that are seen as electable alternatives to the Barisan Nasional coalition of parties...

, regained power as the president of Venezuela. Though some of his policies supported social reforms, he also completely rejected the Castroites, which upset the Left Wing. On the other hand the bourgeois class that made up the Right Wing completely opposed any social changes. This period of political reform had fueled and inspired many of Borges’ works produced during the early to mid 1960s, who himself sided with the Left. His politically charged art was further encouraged by the El Techo de la Ballena (The roof of the whale) movement, founded in 1961. This was a group of novelists, poets and artists, among them Jacobo Borges, that formed in response to the Venezuela's shift of power. Through their manifesto, Stripes on the Roof, and multiple art exhibitions, the group demonstrated their discontent with the new government that was still aiding the bourgeoisie.

During his early neofigurative period, Borges introduced human figures in his paintings who represented the upper class, the bourgeoisie

Bourgeoisie

In sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...

, political or military personnel, and prostitutes. The figures were greatly distorted through the use of heavy impasto layered with rapid and rough brushwork. This technique echoed the characteristics of the Mexican artist Jose Luis Cuevas

Jose Luis Cuevas

José Luis Cuevas is a modernist painter and sculptor from Mexico. Born in 1934, Cuevas derived most of his training outside of the academies. He is considered to be one of the artists from the 1950s in the Rupture Generation that was departing from the politicized and stylized mural school of...

 and the Argentinan Otra Figuracion movement "along with their sources in de Kooning

Willem de Kooning

Willem de Kooning was a Dutch American abstract expressionist artist who was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands....

, Bacon

Francis Bacon (painter)

Francis Bacon , was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery. Bacon's painterly but abstract figures typically appear isolated in glass or steel geometrical cages set against flat, nondescript backgrounds...

, Goya, Rembrandt, Posada

Posada

Posada , also previously known as Feronia or Pausata, is a comune in the Province of Nuoro in the Italian region Sardinia. The city sits on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea...

, Orozco

José Clemente Orozco

José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...

, the CoBrA

Cobra

Cobra is a venomous snake belonging to the family Elapidae. However, not all snakes commonly referred to as cobras are of the same genus, or even of the same family. The name is short for cobra capo or capa Snake, which is Portuguese for "snake with hood", or "hood-snake"...

 artists as well as Emil Nolde

Emil Nolde

Emil Nolde was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and is considered to be one of the great oil painting and watercolour painters of the 20th century. He is known for his vigorous brushwork and expressive choice of colors...

 and James Ensor

James Ensor

James Sidney Edouard, Baron Ensor was a Flemish-Belgian painter and printmaker, an important influence on expressionism and surrealism who lived in Ostend for almost his entire life...

." Paintings produced during this period came to be his most renown works. Based on the Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David

Jacques-Louis David was an influential French painter in the Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era...

, Borges produced a series of drawings and paintings, Characters from Napoleon's Coronation, that made a mockery of the bourgeoisie class, transforming the formal coronation scene into a "burlesque" with deformed figures.

Multimedia

One of the major turning points in Borges’ career happened when he took a five year break from painting (1966–1971) to explore the audio-visual media. His interest in voicing his political and social concerns led him to direct a multimedia project Imagen de Caracas (Image of Caracas). This was a collaboration between actors, writers, filmmakers and musicians who all sided on the issues of the political and social injustices in Venezuela and wanted to expose the audience, the people of Caracas, to the 400 year history of political and social inequalities that prevailed in their city. The production was a great spectacle that took two years (1966–1968) to complete. Situated on 1 acres (4,046.9 m²) of land, the project utilized eight 35 mm projector, forty-five slide projectors, eight large screens (each sixty-five feet wide and thirty-three feet high) and forty-six speakers. The idea was to engage the spectator in the performance, make him part of it in the hopes that through this interaction the audience will become aware of the social injustices that still prevailed in the "democratic" Venezuela. However, shortly after its opening the government forced the Image of Caracas production to close its doors, perhaps due to its negative projection of authority.

In 1969, Borges directed a thirty-five minute black and white film May 22.
In the recent years, though his primary medium is painting, Borges still utilizes the multimedia in his exhibitions. In July 1996 Borges held a solo show in Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

, Austria that was based on the story of Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark is a vessel appearing in the Book of Genesis and the Quran . These narratives describe the construction of the ark by Noah at God's command to save himself, his family, and the world's animals from the worldwide deluge of the Great Flood.In the narrative of the ark, God sees the...

, in which Borges intensified his presentation of flood through the use of multimedia pieces.

Later work

The time taken away from painting and invested in the exploration of multimedia had deeply affected Borges. Upon his return to canvas in 1971, he acquired a distinct style that greatly reflected the influences of his experience with filmmaking and photography. From that point on, Borges’ work became concerned with creating and depicting "shifting frames to create a sense of shifting time", rather than his political ideologies. His work no longer overtly portrayed his discontent with political and social issues, instead he became interested in producing images that dealt with traditional and cultural themes such as First Communion

First Communion

The First Communion, or First Holy Communion, is a Catholic Church ceremony. It is the colloquial name for a person's first reception of the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. Catholics believe this event to be very important, as the Eucharist is one of the central focuses of the Catholic Church...

 and betrothals. His inspiration and subjects for the paintings came from the old photographs that he had collected. Borges used the images from the photos transforming them into paintings. His interest in "portraying passage of time and the persistence of memory" led him to developing a style that became associated uniquely with him. Borges began using depth in his images by creating focal planes, selectively blurring figures in his paintings while sharpening others. This focal blurring effect was intensified by his use of glaze instead of heavy impasto, creating works that evoked dream like state. Paintings such as Waiting for… (1972) and Nymphenburg (1974) exemplify his newly developed technique.
At the same time, Borges' work began to show the influences of the old masters such as Velázquez

Diego Velázquez

Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...

 and Goya. The composition and the placement of the figures in the paintings was more premeditated, compare to his early neofiguration period. El novio (The Groom) (1975) with its vertical construction of the room, and Nymphenburg with its situated figures both mirror Velázquez's work, Las meninas (1656).

In most recent works, Borges is continuously drawn to portraying images of water and tree branches creating a meditative quality paintings.

Legacy

In 1995 government of Venezuela named a museum after Jacobo Borges. The Jacobo Borges Museum is a state funded institution located in Catia

Catia

Catia may refer to*Catia - neighbourhood of Caracas*Catia La Mar - Venezuelan town*Catia - a family in Ancient Rome*Catia - type of butterfly*CATIA...

, a suburb of Caracas, Venezuela. Situated in one of the most poor neighborhoods, the museum's mission is to expose the residents to the importance of the arts. Various art classes are offered to the community in the hopes that art will help to improve their lives. For Borges, it's a personal triumph since Catia is his hometown and he himself overcame the poverty by pursuing the career in the arts. The museum exhibits works by the international artists as well as the local.

Quote

- Jacobo Borges

Selected works

• Fishing – 1956, Aldemaro Romero, Caracas
• Mural – 1956, Rodrigo Guerrero, Caracas
• Saint Michel's nets – 1960, Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas
• Without Shades – 1962, Estudio Actual, Caracas
• The Scream – 1962, Moises Feldman, Caracas
• Personages of Napoleon's coronation – 1963, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas
• Waiting Room – 1962, Galeria de arte Nacional, Caracas
• The Crowning of Napoleon – 1963, Ana Avalos, Caracas
• Humble Citizen – 1964, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Caracas
• The Show Continues – 1964, Hans Neumann, Caracas
• High Finances – 1965, Private Collection, New York
• Nymphenburg – 1974, Mariano Otero, Caracas
• Time goes by I – 1974, Galeria de Arte Nacional Caracas
• Landscape in Three Tempos – 1977, Banco Central de Venezuela Caracas
• Awakening – 1978, Embassy of Venezuela, Brazil
• The Little Cup – 1981, Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas
• The Real Mountain – 1981, Just. W Michelsen, New York
• Animal and Destroyed Piano – 1984, CDS Gallery, New York
• Just Two – 1985, CDS Gallery, New York

Selected exhibition history

• 1956 - Two solo exhibitions: Galeria Lauro, Caracas; Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas
• 1957 - San Paulo Biennial, Brazil; Official Salon, Caracas
• 1958 – Venice Biennial; Bruselas’ World Fair; Official Salon, Caracas
• 1959 – Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City; Official Salon, Caracas
• 1960 – Official Salon, Caracas; Museum of Fine Arts, Curaçao
• 1961 – Official Salon, Caracas
• 1962 – Official Salon, Caracas
• 1963 – Solo exhibition at Galeria G, Caracas; "Twenty two Venezuelan Painters", Chile, Uruguay, Peru; São Paulo Biennial, Brazil
• 1964 – "Guggenheim International", New York; Second Biennial in Córdoba, Argentina; Museo deArte Moderno in Bogotá, Colombia; Sixth Exhibition of Drawing and Etching at the Faculty of Architecture, Universidad Central deVenezuela, Caracas; Anniversary of the "Techo de la Ballena", Caracas; Second Biennial, Córdoba; Museo de Bellas Artes, Mexico City
• 1965 – 20 South American Artists, Museo de Bellas Artes, Mexico; Armando Reveron Biennial, Museo de Bellas Artes, Caracas; Galeria del Techo, Caracas
• 1966 – Ciculo-Galeria, Mérida, Mexico
• 1968 – "Image of Caracas", Caracas
• 1972 – Estudio Actual, Caracas
• 1974 – Third Biennial of Latin American Etchings, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• 1975 – "Exhibition of Venezuelan Art" Havana, Cuba; Studio Actual, Caracas
• 1976 – Retrospective exhibition (48 paintings) Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City
• 1977 – "New Proposals", Casa Bello, Caracas; Basle International Fair, Switzerland; *"Today's art in Latin America" Instituto de Cultura Hispanica, Madrid
• 1978 – "From Jacobo Borges Studio Today", Galeria de Arte Nacional
• 1980 – "Collage in Venezuela" Estudio Actual, Caracas; "Investigation of the Image, *1680–1980" Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas
• 1981 – Estudio Actual, Caracas; Galeria de Arte Nacional, Caracas
• 1983 - First solo exhibition in USA- CDS Gallery, New York
• 1985 - CDS Gallery, New York
• 1986 - "From Fishing...to the Mirror of Waters. 60 Works of Jacobo Borges", Museo de Monterrey, Mexico

Awards and honorable mentions

• 1957 - Honorable Mention at the San Paulo Biennial Exhibion, Brazil
• 1961 - National prize for drawing, Caracas
• 1962 - Puebla de Bolivar prize; Antonio Esteban Frias prize
• 1985 - Guggenheim Fellowship
  Guggenheim Fellowship
  Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
  
  

External links

• http://angelfloresjr.multiply.com/photos/album/225 Images from the project Imagen de Caracas
• http://jstor.org/stable/1144537?seq=1 Article on Imagen de Caracas