Nenias

Considered one of Gerd Leufert's most important print series since its first publication in 1969, Nenias incorporates both the geometric and organic elements of the artist’s signature style as a prominent graphic artist in Venezuela. For two decades, Leufert continued to create other Nenias, inventing a calligraphic language of sorts by exploring the intersection between abstract art and the dynamic typography and layouts of his graphic design practice. Resembling logos with their bold and, in most cases, symmetrical designs, the Nenias appear like archetypical archaic or primeval forms of life. Nenias　can be translated as "elegies"; with his print series, Leufert pays homage to a Venezuelan and Brazilian indigenous tribe, the Yanomami, whose work remained a constant source of inspiration throughout his career. In 1985, Leufert scaled up ten Nenias to monumental size on the walls of the Museum of Fine Arts, Caracas in a mesmerizing installation. In the spirit of that historical project, any of the Nenias can be enlarged and applied onto walls as paintings or vinyl cut-outs, probing the tenets of modernism through their daring experimentation of contrasting black and white forms.