New Exhibition at Tang June 1 Shines Light On Acclaimed 20th-Century Argentine Artist

SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces a new exhibition that brings together modern and contemporary abstract artworks, Vorágine: Yente and Cecilia Biagini, through Sept. 22. An opening reception and performance will be Saturday, June 1, at 4 p.m.

Yente (1905–1990) was a pioneering figure in abstraction from Argentina whose work has been gaining greater recognition in recent years. Cecilia Biagini (b. 1967) is an artist of Argentine origin now based in Brooklyn. 

Vorágine presents works Yente made from the late 1930s through the early 1960s, a period when she experimented with the visual languages of geometric abstraction across media, including painting, sculpture, tapestry, and artist books. Biagini, who has lived and worked in New York since the late 1990s, has a similar omnivorous approach to artmaking that includes installation, sculpture, painting, and music. 

Together, the two artists’ works narrate an often-overlooked history of women abstractionists in the Americas. 

Vorágine: Yente and Cecilia Biagini is organized by Ayelen Pagnanelli, an independent curator who recently earned her doctorate in art history at the Escuela IDAES at Universidad Nacional de San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is also a Skidmore College graduate of the class of 2014 and a former Tang intern. 

The opening reception on Saturday, June 1, at 4 p.m. will also include a special performance with violins, movement, and voice at 5 p.m. by exhibiting artist Cecilia Biagini and Aimée Niemann. All are welcome. Admission to the Tang is free. For more information, call the Visitors Services Desk at 518-580-8080 or visit https://tang.skidmore.edu.