Catálogo de la exposición - Fundación César Manrique

An organic Constructivist
Barcala (like Ramos and the sculptor Germán Cabrera) stands as a point on the border: he
can be seen as having introduced a sort of synthesis between the organic and the
constructive. In the Uruguay of the day, that is, the late sixties, tri-dimensional volume and
real space were the exclusive domain of sculptors and architects, whereas the two
dimensions of the plane were reserved to painters. In 1967 we organised a showing, Artes
Nuevas (New Arts), in the General Electric Institute exhibition hall, in which Barcala
presented what could still be defined as a painting, but was very close to being something
else. What the artist submitted was a new handling of subtle counterpoised textures and a
flash or two of colour, in the midst of a luminous, limpid atmosphere, all inside white boxes
seven centimetres deep and topped with a glass lid, apparently attempting to revive and
update the Pandora’s box myth. Barcala essentially arranged the work around planes
separated by small wooden partitions that ordered an enormous diversity and variety of
shapes and materials on one side and the other, seeking shadows cast on and by the curved
forms, oblique surfaces that also cast shadows and the unfolding planes, insinuating spatial
depth in the refinement of colour. The white lacquered paint that covers most of these
jointed compositions contrasts with the tar-black in others and the few areas where the
artist left a matte finish. An air of reserve, of subtle experiment, emanates from his works,
which are vehicles for the anxious, sensitive and wise quest for a language in keeping with
the world and the time in which he was destined to live.
What is the explanation? Perhaps anthropology, more than art theory or history, holds the
answers to the questions that arise around these works. It is no coincidence that a specialist
in prehistoric research such as André Leroi-Gourhan used these raw materials, irrespective
of any aesthetic considerations, in his approach to technomorphology. In his work L´homme
et la matière he proposes a dynamic classification of materials and techniques based on a
spectrum ranging from solid to liquid. His categories cover stable solids, semi-plastic solids,
plastics and flexible solids. The result of his combinations give rise to objects such as arrows
and shoes, textiles and rooms. And, one might add, Barcala’s boxes.
In an apparent move away from Torres García’s teachings, set in the context of organic
language, Washington Barcala built his space with a rigour that prompted me to call him
(along with Germán Cabrera and Nelson Ramos, in a collective showing of these three
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