Rolando Peña shows his vision of the universe at the Connect Now Room

Big Bang represents a creative proposal that makes reference to the cosmic inflation theory developed by Alan Guth (New Brunswick, USA, 1947), Andréi Linde (Moscow, Russia, 1948), Paul Steinhardt (Washington, D.C., USA, 1952) and Andreas Albrecht (Ithaca, USA, 1957). Pietro Daprano, the curator of the exposition, while referring to Rolando Peña’s work in his text for the catalog, claimed that there lies a threshold of vitality and maturity within his new formal searches, that these images: “recall a dimension we shall try to describe as psycho/cosmographic. This vision, that integrates psyche and cosmos in a single systematic view, articulated by Rolando Peña AKA “The Black Prince” work represents an unprecedented form, a new window where the metaphor of “black gold” shall only be a memory, the creative explosion of which shall open alternatives to the genesis of a totality as a colliding universe based in art and an endless search of new language forms”, points out the curator.

With an important trajectory and with international awards, amongst which are the Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, Rolando Peña has presented his work since 1963 in museums and galleries in Venezuela, USA, Spain, France, Germany, participated in the Venice Biannual (2008) and the Documenta in Kassel. He collaborated with renowned writers, intellectuals and curators such as Andy Warhol, José Ignacio Cabrujas, Allen Ginsberg and Pierre Restany, and others. In 1965, Peña lead with the writer José Ignacio Cabrujas in Venezuela the first multimedia show in Latin-America: “Testimonio” and “Homenaje a Henry Miller” and in 1966 he participated in New York at “The Illumination of the Buddha” with Allen Ginsberg and Timothy Leary (first psychedelic show). In 1967, Peña acted in different Warhol movies carried by “The Foundation for the Totality”, a group founded and directed by Peña.

The sample includes 17 digital impressions of medium size, and a video projection. He proposes, as expressed by the researcher Katherine Chacón, a participant of the catalog with a text related to the exhibition: “(…) an expansive transformation in Rolando Peña’s recent work. A macro-cosmic, almost spiritual sense has risen in his work that connects what is energetic with important inquiries regarding the existence of men and the cosmos“.