The Colombian artist's first institutional solo exhibition in New York

Fanny Sanín: "I'm 87 years old and I still paint every day from nine in the morning to five in the afternoon"
Americas Society opens 'Geometric Equations,' the Colombian artist's first institutional solo exhibition in New York
At 87, Fanny Sanín (Bogotá, 1938), one of the pioneers of Latin American and American abstract art, remains lucid and active, excited to continue sharing her work. After more than 300 group exhibitions and 55 solo exhibitions, Geometric Equations opens this Wednesday at Americas Society, the artist's first institutional retrospective in New York. The exhibition, designed by artist Carlos Motta and curated by Edward J. Sullivan, brings together more than sixty years of work and will be on view until July 26.

Fanny Sanín's life and artistic career are informed by different cultures and geographies. She left Colombia with her current husband, engineer Mayer Sasson, and together they lived in London and Mexico, settling permanently in New York, where they arrived in 1971. Throughout this journey, her work has evolved, moving from abstraction to geometry, from oil to acrylic, but always characterized by an ode to color and symmetry.

Question: How do you feel about this retrospective?

Answer: It moves me and makes me melancholic, because each painting corresponds to a time and makes me remember the gallery where it was exhibited, the people who saw it, the curators who chose it, and many of those people have already passed away. The biggest shock came when I had the retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Bogotá, because there were many works I hadn't seen in a long time, and it brought back so many memories. When I returned to New York, I didn't know what to do. I spent months paralyzed, studying and figuring out what new element I could add to my work. That's when I started doing the diagonals.

Q. Did your family support you when you decided to become an artist?

A. My parents always unconditionally supported my sister, who was also a painter, and me. They always exposed us to art through exhibitions and books. My father was my greatest intellectual driving force; he read very good books and listened to good music. My whole family had a great love for culture. We studied art at the Universidad de los Andes, which was an excellent university that offered a great humanistic education.

Q. Are you satisfied with the recognition you've received throughout your career?

A. Yes, I'm very grateful, especially to the people who have supported me over so many years; for me, that's much more important than commercial success. It was also very nice when they named me an Honorary Doctorate of the Master of Arts from the University of Antioquia, for which I've done some murals. I keep in touch with many young artists who ask me for help, especially female painters for whom I'm a reference. When they come to New York, I send them to the major museums, the MET, MoMA.
Read more