The Barge

Adolfo Nigro

, 1997

Oil on canvas, 80 × 80cm.

La barca (The Barge) is a paradigmatic work within Adolfo Nigro’s oeuvre, clearly representative of his multifaceted production, alluding to a sense of belonging that is closely connected to the culture of the Río de la Plata. La barca, the oil on canvas painted in 1997 that forms part of this collection, is a magnificent example of his use of ample, free forms that correspond to the aesthetic of his maestro José Gurvich, who Nigro returns to as his source again and again. With the compressed central axis that spans the canvas vertically as the point of departure, multiple centers and directions link geometric forms and pure, intense colors together, which then come to rest in the enveloping calm of the painting’s borders. Based on the dominant color scheme (red-blue/barge-river), successive tonal variations are modulated as an orchestrated whole. At the same time, the planimetric recreation of the barge and the river bestow a tapestry-like structure to the work, where the throng of object-signs and animal-signs seem to be embroidered, forming a sort of Noah’s ark. The tacit presence of the sky threads a sensation of the cosmos throughout the painting. It is a constellation whose weft points, once again, to the South.