LUCIDEZ

Through an exhaustive investigation of her archive, this exhibition revisits the scope, vision, coherence, and lucidity of the work of Ana Mercedes Hoyos (1942–2014).

Hoyos stands as one of the most subversive, eclectic, and misunderstood figures of Colombian modernism, with a body of work defined by its striking diversity and an instantly recognizable style. The conventional categorization of her practice into “periods,”often named after her “ventanas” or “palanganas,” has obscured an appreciation of her relentless and holistic pictorial exploration.

The works, sketches, photographs, and documents gathered here span the entirety of her career, departing from a strictly chronological narrative and instead proposing a critical and necessary examination of the transversal threads that articulate one of the most powerful artistic legacies in Latin America.

The title of the exhibition pays tribute to the protagonist that emerges persistently across all of Hoyos’s works and styles: light. Its constant shifts and fluctuations, its atmospheric qualities, and the richness of the expansive fields of color that saturate her canvases remain defining features of her painting. The photographic archive reveals how, using the camera as both a chromatic logbook and a sketching tool, the artist captured the elusive nature of her primary medium.

Sketches, heliographic enlargements, and process drawings, along with an image that mutates and evolves across multiple works and supports, reveal a systematic and consistent working methodology: reframing, iterating, and synthesizing the image. Each series moves from formal abundance to succinct force. Her approach to the figure—with reframings and perspectives inspired by Cubism and modern photography—constitutesa continuous exercise in rewriting and refinement.

Far from conclusive or definitive, this exhibition highlights the breadth of mediums andthe constant reinvention that characterize Ana Mercedes Hoyos’s practice. It offers a fleeting glimpse into the vast ocean of memories, traces, and testaments that together portray a complete and profoundly human vision of the artist.