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My “volumetric paintings” are created by adding layers over layers of acrylic paint with brush and spatula. Volume is obtained with no materiality other than acrylic pigment and the eventual thickener.
My pieces include representational and abstract examples. In representational paintings –fruits, people– I work not only the surface of subjects but also the internal space.
A volumetric painting of a watermelon is green in the surface, white and red inside. A head portrait is as true to the internal organs, muscles, bones–which will be invisible– as to the visible features shown in flat painting or in sculpture.
The geometric abstractions are usually monochromes painted the same color through and through. The knowledge of all the color we do not see completes conceptually the visual perception of the work. When a viewer knows he or she is seeing a volumetric, pure monochrome, he will integrate into the resulting perception an element of imagination: A mass of the same color he is sampling with his eyes.
I am hoping my volumetric paintings will change art teaching. Currently acrylic paint is taught as if it was oil based. There is at least one basic difference; utilizing the appropriate techniques, acrylic paint can be employed to build volumes.
Traducido del inglés
Mis “pinturas volumétricas” son creadas al añadir capas sobre capas de pintura acrílica con pincel y espátula. Se obtiene volumen sin otra materialidad que el pigmento acrílico y el aglutinante.
Mis piezas incluyen ejemplos representacionales y abstractos. En las pinturas representacionales (frutas, gente), no trabajo sólo con la superficie de los temas sino también de sus espacios interiores.
Las abstracciones geométricas son a menudo monocromos pintados con el mismo color de principio a fin. La comprensión de todo el color que no vemos completa la visión perceptual de la obra. Cuando un espectador sabe que él o ella está viendo un monocromo puro y volumétrico, integrará a la percepción final un elemento de la imaginación: una masa del mismo color que está siendo percibido con sus ojos.
Espero que mis pinturas volumétricas cambien la manera en la que se enseña el arte. Hoy en día se enseña a pintar con acrílico como si fuese óleo. Existe por lo menos una diferencia; utilizando técnicas adecuadas, la pintura acrílica puede ser utilizada para crear volúmenes.
Selected Biographical Information
Education / Training
- 1958-1965: Profesor en Letras (Master equivalent), Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Prizes / Fellowships
- 1972 & 1973: Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Pollock-Krasner Foundation, USA.
Solo Exhibitions
- 2004: “La Lección de Anatomía”, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2003: “El Salto de la Imaginación”, Galería Ruth Benzacar, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- 2002: “The Biology of Painting”, The Artist Network, NYC, USA.
- 2001: “Eduardo Costa: The Geometric Works”, Cecilia de Torres Gallery, NYC, USA.
- 1998: “La Pintura Dura, Pura”, ICI, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Group Exhibitions
- 2013: “Fussiform Gyrus”, Lisson Gallery, London, UK.
- 2012-2013: “Pop, realismo y Politica”, PROA, Buenos Aires, Argentina; GAMEC, Bergamo, Italia; MAM Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
- 2011: “Ver Sacrum. The Death of the Audience”, Vienna Secession, Vienna.
- 2009: “7º bienal do Mercosul: Grito e Escuta”, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
- 2009: “An (Unrully) History of the Readymade”, Jumex Foundation, Mexico City, Mexico.
Publications
- Ver Sacrum: The Death of the Audience, Vienna Secession and CAC Brétigny, Pierre, Bal-blanc, 2011.
- Deborah Cullen, A Part and Apart: Contextualising Asco, in Asco, Elite of the Obscure, Hatje Cantz, with LACMA and Williams College.
- Miguel A. Lopez, How Do We Know What Latin American Conceptualism Looks Like? Afterall magazine, Nº 23, 2010.
- William Oliver, The Death of the Audience, The Art Newspaper, 9/09.
- Brigitte Huck, The Death of the Audience, Art Forum, 10/09.
Collections
- MOMA, NY, USA.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, USA.
- Museum de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- Museo de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Museo de Arte Moderno, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
- Coleccion Jumex, Mexico City, Mexico.
- Colección Banco Mercantil, Caracas, Venezuela / New York, USA.
- Colección Patricia Cisneros, Caracas, Venezuela / New York, USA.
- Colección Sayago & Pardon, California, USA.
- Bernard Chappard, Caracas, Venezuela.
- Eduardo Costa, “Expanded black & red Bichrome (front and back)”, 2006-2007, Series: Expanded Paintings. Paint Becomes Volumetric, Acrylic paint on and exceeding canvas, 19 ¾ x 17 ¼ in. (50 x 44 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Inclusive White Painting”, 2008-2009, Series: Inclusive Paintings, Acrylic paint on and around canvas on board, 15 ¾ x 15 ¾ x 1 in. (40 x 40 x 2 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Inclusive Black Painting”, 2007-2008, Series: Inclusive Paintings, Acrylic paint on and around canvas on board, 50cm x 40cm x 2cm. Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “White Monochrome Separated from the Wall by Solid Acrylic Paint Bars”, 2008-2010, Series: Expanded Paintings. Paint Becomes Partly Volumetric, Acrylic on canvas, volumetric front and back bars, 17 ½ x 26 ½ x 4 in. (44,5 x 67,5 x 10 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Black Matte & Glossy Painting”, 2009-2010, Series: Partly Volumetric, Solid acrylic paint, 24 ½ x 18 x 1 ¼ in. (62 x 46 x 3 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Accidental Intersection of a Red Cylinder and a Fluid plane”, 2008, Series: Partly Expanded Paintings, Acrylic paint on canvas, 24 x 18 ½ x 8 in. (61 x 47 x 20 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Soft Orange Painting”, 2008-2009, Series: Patrly Volumetric Paintings, Acrylic paint on canvas, flat 25 ½ x 24 x 1 in. (65 x 61 x 2,5 cm). (In transit). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “White Monochrome Separated from the Wall by a Volumetric Sphere”, 2012-2013, Series: Partly Expanded, Acrylic on and over canvas, 22 x 24 x 6 inches. Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Rollable Violet Painting”, 2010-2011, Series: Partly Volumetric, Acrylic paint on canvas, velcro, flat, 25 ¼ x 25 ¾ x 1 in. (64 x 65 x 2 cm).Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Grey wedge with a Silver Skin”, 2008-2009, Series: Volumetric Paintings, Solid acrylic paint, 22 x 2 ½ x 11 in. (56 x 6,5 x 28 cm). (In Transit). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Painting of Green Triangle”, 2009-2010, Series: Volumetric Paintings, Acrylic paint, 13 x 28 x 4 ¾ in. (33 x 71 x 12 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Three Models for Drawing”, 2010-2011, Series: Volumetric Paintings, Solid acrylic paint, 12 x 25 ½ x 8 ¾ in. (30 x 65 x 22 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Painting of a Scott Burton Side Table (a pair)”, 1995-1997, Series: Useable Volumetric Paintings, Solid Acrylic Paint, 26 x 16 x 16 in. each (66 x 40,5 x 40,5 cm). Private Collection Miami. Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Interaction of an All Paint Triangle with Perimetrally Cut Out Triangle”, 2011-2012, Series: Paint-filled Images, Acrylic paint filling in the cut out canvas triangles, 35 ½ x 27 ½ in. (90 x 70 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa
- Eduardo Costa, “Interaction of an All Paint Triangle with Perimetrally Cut Out Triangle (back)”, 2011-2012, Series: Paint-filled Images, Acrylic paint filling in the cut out canvas triangles, 35 ½ x 27 ½ in. (90 x 70 cm). Photo credit: Albano García for Estudio Eduardo Costa