Julio Alpuy
Marina metafísica [Metaphysical Marina]
1962
Oil on incised, carved wood
116.2 cm x 58.4 cm (45 3/4 in. x 23 in.)
Gift of the artist, 2005

Julio Alpuy trained in the seminal Taller Torres-García, a workshop founded in Montevideo by Joaquín Torres-García to transmit to a younger generation his style of Universal Constructivism, an approach to abstraction inspired by a fusion of ancient American forms with the European avant-garde. In 1961, after almost two decades of working faithfully in Torres-García's style, Alpuy moved to New York where he was able to develop his own distinctive style, as seen in this work of 1962. While the title suggests a marine landscape, what we see is the artist'sresponse to a new urban cityscape, in a composition incorporating the timeless symbols that would be a lifelong concern for him. By using found and recycled materials-wood in this case-Alpuy also explored what he saw as the spirituality of used objects.