Rodolfo Abularach

About

Up next at art advisor Lisa Schiff’s permanent exhibition outpost in Tribeca, SFA Advisory showcases the Surrealist work of Rodolfo Abularach. The exhibition features an overview of the artist’s paintings on canvas and works on paper known for their depiction of all-seeing eyes.

Rodolfo Abularach (b. 1933, Guatemala City; d. 2020) began his career studying architecture in Guatemala before turning to the visual arts in the mid-1950s when he began looking at ancient Mayan forms as inspiration for modernist compositions. After teaching briefing in Guatemala, Abularach moved to New York to continue his studies and received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1959 and 1960. It was during this time that Abularach developed his ongoing series on the human eye, which he explored through a variety of media for decades. Through precise and intricate draftsmanship, Abularach tapped into the unconscious mind, looking to the Guatemalan past for archetypal forms that spoke to the collective unconscious, following the path of Surrealists such as Max Ernst, Andre Masson and Roberto Matt. In the 1980s, Abularach shifted his gaze outwards towards landscapes, favoring scenes of erupting volcanoes.   

Abularach presented more than 100 solo exhibitions throughout his lifetime, and his work is held in some of the most important collections in the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York and the Museum of the Americas, Washington, D.C., among others – yet his achievements remain virtually unknown.