Rogelio Polesello

biography

Rogelio Polesello (Buenos Aires, 1939-2014) is considered a great talent not only of argentina, but of all of Latin America, in the fields of modern and contemporary art. In 1958 he graduated with a teacher’s degree in etching, drawing, and illustration from the Escuela de Artes Visuales Prilidiano Pueyrredon, Argentina. That same year he began to work as a graphic designer for a multinational publicity agency, designing brochures for Agens, an agency of Siam Di Tella. Some time later he became the art director in another agency in Buenos Aires. Upon finishing his studies he had no doubt that he’d focus on painting, the geometric abstractionism and optical movements of the time marked his first artistic investigations. Throughout almost 70 years, he explored a plethora of techniques such as etching, sculpting, as well as the creation of acrylic objects of varied sizes, with which he is able to create optical distortions and illusions.

At the same time, his experience in graphic design allowed him to participate in projects that went beyond the traditional visual arts scene and into interdisciplinary artworks within architecture, environmental and textile design, and body painting. In the words of Mercedes Casanegra, “Polesello has always resided in the world of shapes and optical games, his intrinsic tools. His works searched for movement in stillness, applying kinetics to create vibrations to achieve a sort of “lyrical resonance”, thus generating a form of movement in the artworks and a change in perception within the viewer.

It was through his acrylic pieces that a critical chapter began, and he began to extend his creative possibilities beyond the drawings and paintings themselves. With them he was able to experiment with the incidences of light and color onto objects and create a new artistic expression that jumped off the wall and invaded space, creating a paradigm shift in how we both view and understand art. This shift went beyond his own works and effected the argentine art scene of that period which was already deep in experimentations through different mediums and techniques under the affirmation that “anything was possible”

Another of his stages was the use of public spaces to show his artworks. The most noteworthy are the “Eclipse” project (2001-2002) for the Ezeiza International Airport, Buenos Aires. In this period his sculptures began to be located in alternative settings such as public spaces.

Polesello has always been an artist of his period, one that knew how to move between different explorations that still remain relevant to this day. His powerful intuition, his vision -that he both saw and created at once-, his absolute curiosity, and his aesthetic eagerness would become his guiding lights that would always stay just ahead of the horizon, enticing him onward. Throughout his extensive career, Polesello would always busy himself with the connections between the worlds of art, design, and industry. His path, until his final days, was always steered by visual analysis, working as a sort of “industrial artisan”.