Cuban, 1927-2001

Andre Breton once was quoted as saying that Augustin Cardenas had hands “efficient as a dragonfly.” In Sans Titre, 1981 there is no denying the precision and accuracy when Cardenas executed this piece. Cardenas rarely had a work on paper that served as more than a study for his sculptures. The attention to detail and texture that is seen in Sans Titre, 1981, leads us to believe that this was more than a mere study making it a rarity among his works. The figure in the foreground mimics Cardenas’s sculptural forms, yet has dynamism of its own. The negative space, just like in sculpture, is just as important as the positive space.

Cardenas’ subject matter focused on the range of humanistic emotions of one or two figures in relationships. These relationships were based on how a couple interacted when together in an embrace, and the spatial forms that they created. The figures are clearly not just about the physical body intertwined but about the spiritual and emotional connection between two human beings. Cardenas attempted to express this connectivity between beings in both his sculptures and paintings. Sans Titre, 1981 exemplifies this unity among forms.

Though Cardenas is Cuban and was born in Cuba, he is classified as a French surrealist artist because he traveled, lived and worked in France around 1955 when the surrealist movement was in full force.