The place Gego's work occupies in Venezuela's abstract-geometric tradition—one of the most fertile in the Americas—is complex; indeed, this subtle body of work, which paradoxically conveys so many meanings, resists definition. Consequently, this book serves as an exploration of how the artist, while engaging with the leading figures of this tradition and acknowledging and sharing some of their ideas, freely expressed their own vision.
Gego created an exceptional body of work that challenges and transcends the dominant canon. In other words, the artist strengthened the connection between their artistic practice and nature, maintaining a relationship with the modernization project that differed from that of their contemporaries. This led to the development of a kind of "impure" abstraction—a contaminated geometry—that has become increasingly fascinating over the years. Gego’s bichos—the ironic term the artist used for their creations—can be interpreted as another signifier of Venezuelan modernity, one that proves essential by complementing the official, utopian version of that process.
