Made by Serif
DAMASO-
We need your help to further disseminate the work of Damaso Ogaz. If you have any unpublished photograph of the artist or have any work that we can photograph and catalog, we kindly ask you to contact us.
Important: All material contained herein may be used for dissemination of information or for promoting the figure of the author, if the goal is not commercial.
We just ask you to cite the source.
If you have any comments about his work or have an interesting story that you want to tell us, we invite you to visit our Facebook page.
We just ask you to cite the source.
If you have any comments about his work or have an interesting story that you want to tell us, we invite you to visit our Facebook page.
Estamos en:
His real name was Víctor Manuel Sánchez Ogaz. Born in Santiago de Chile on August 17, 1924; he died in Caracas on March 14, 1990.
His artistic genius encompassed painting, literature, poetry, theater... He was one of the greatest exponents of Mail Art, and a worlwide pionner of this trend in Venezuela and Chile. He was part of Venezuela´s controversial art movement “El Techo de la Ballena” (“The Roof of the Whale”), with great figures in the process of consecration as Carlos Contramaestre, Juan Calzadilla, Adriano González León, Salvador Garmendia, Efraín Hurtado, Perán Erminy, Francisco Pérez Perdomo, Caupolicán Ovalles, Edmundo Aray, among many others.
In an imaginary interview where he mixes the absurd with the truth, published in a booklet entitled “Remate” (“Attempt”), which was released en 1975 under the ironic label Ediciones La Pata de Palo (The Stick Leg Editions, an euphemism for “Pirate”), the poet describes himself as follows:
His artistic genius encompassed painting, literature, poetry, theater... He was one of the greatest exponents of Mail Art, and a worlwide pionner of this trend in Venezuela and Chile. He was part of Venezuela´s controversial art movement “El Techo de la Ballena” (“The Roof of the Whale”), with great figures in the process of consecration as Carlos Contramaestre, Juan Calzadilla, Adriano González León, Salvador Garmendia, Efraín Hurtado, Perán Erminy, Francisco Pérez Perdomo, Caupolicán Ovalles, Edmundo Aray, among many others.
In an imaginary interview where he mixes the absurd with the truth, published in a booklet entitled “Remate” (“Attempt”), which was released en 1975 under the ironic label Ediciones La Pata de Palo (The Stick Leg Editions, an euphemism for “Pirate”), the poet describes himself as follows:
The work of Ogaz, abundant if we consider not only the dozen books he published, but also the many magazines, brochures and postcards that he personally developed, and the books that gradually, with patience, perseverance and lots of heart he was structuring by hand, piece by piece, after coming out of a photocopier. Thereby, he gave them the stamp of his own unmistakable handmade edition, they were released in very samll editions, just over a hundred copies most of the time, that the artist mailed to friends or delivered directly, by driving, in streets, plazas, traffics lights, inside schools or universities... Hence the difficulty of access to this work today.
For Dámaso Ogaz literature and art were not divorced from the process of humanity. He always sought the integration of art with life, with the everyday, with the being... An art that passed by thousands of hands, instead of being confined to a cold wall.
Dámaso Ogaz wrote: “Third Elegy”, Ediciones Zona, Santiago de Chile, 1953; “The Powers”, Ediciones Zona, Santiago de Chile, 1959; “Double-edged Sword”, Ediciones El Techo de la Ballena, Caracas, 1962; “ The Whale and the Majamámico”, Ediciones El Techo de la Ballena, Caracas, 1967; “Methods and Imaginary Defections”, Ediciones El Techo de la Ballena, Caracas, 1968; “Front an Back of the Nº.8”, Ediciones Colección Actual - Universidad de los Andes, Mérida, 1970; “ Western Culture”, ediciones La Pata de Palo, Caracas, 1970; “Step Back”, Ediciones Rondas, Barcelona, Spain, 1975, among others...
For Dámaso Ogaz literature and art were not divorced from the process of humanity. He always sought the integration of art with life, with the everyday, with the being... An art that passed by thousands of hands, instead of being confined to a cold wall.
Dámaso Ogaz wrote: “Third Elegy”, Ediciones Zona, Santiago de Chile, 1953; “The Powers”, Ediciones Zona, Santiago de Chile, 1959; “Double-
From Paris, the artist begins a tour through Denmark, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and goes back to Paris. Throughout this evolution he takes some Dadaist and Surrealistic approaches, that will be incorporated into his works, together with elements of modern semiotics and visual poetry. He was creating in this way a clearly and cutting-edge work that many consider a true poetics of the absurd.
Ogaz participates in solo exhibitions (Galerie Saint Germain, 1962; Galerie Lambert, 1963). In 1962 he is granted in Tokyo, Japan, the Yomiuri Award at the Second International Exhibition of Artists of the Pacific. He is back in Venezuela in 1967, at the express invitation of Carlos Contramaestre, and attracted by the counter-proposal of The Roof of the Whale, since then, the artist makes his home in Venezuela and dedicates completely to spread his art through the provinces of the country.
In 1967 Ogaz participates in the Latin American Exhibition of Drawing and Printmaking at the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he was awarded with the third prize. The following year he exhibited “The Oedipal Majamámicas” at the Faculty of Architecture in the Univerdidad Central de Venezuela with presentation of Caupolicán Ovalles, Edmundo Aray and Juan Calzadilla. He had previously participated in individual exhibitions in Santiago de Chile: Galería Instituto Chileno-Británico, 1960-65; Galería Libertad, 1961-63; Galería Bellas Artes, 1964. In Caracas, in the gallery of The Roof of the Whale, 1962, at the Ateneo de Trujillo, 1961 and at Rathje Gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark, 1962, as well as in many group exhibitions. He directed three galleries in Santiago de Chile: Galería Laberinto, Galería Libertad and Galería Bellas Artes. Ogaz was also an art critic in the newspaper La Nación, Chile, as well as in the magazines Calicanto and Pomaire, and in the Magazine of Art, Universidad de Chile. In 1976, he was founder of the Valera Experimental School of Design, which he directed for several years.
Ogaz was a strong promoter of experimentation aimed at the discovery of new forms of expression within the artistic field. Diligent and dedicated researcher, gifted with ample organizational skills though sometimes authoritarian. Art teacher, author and theater director, painter, writer, poet, tireless editor... “An old-style printer -according to Juan Calzadilla-, animated by an unshakeable faith in the subvert power of word and image together...” An artist who made “creative work as stubbornly fertile as underground...”
Ogaz participates in solo exhibitions (Galerie Saint Germain, 1962; Galerie Lambert, 1963). In 1962 he is granted in Tokyo, Japan, the Yomiuri Award at the Second International Exhibition of Artists of the Pacific. He is back in Venezuela in 1967, at the express invitation of Carlos Contramaestre, and attracted by the counter-
In 1967 Ogaz participates in the Latin American Exhibition of Drawing and Printmaking at the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he was awarded with the third prize. The following year he exhibited “The Oedipal Majamámicas” at the Faculty of Architecture in the Univerdidad Central de Venezuela with presentation of Caupolicán Ovalles, Edmundo Aray and Juan Calzadilla. He had previously participated in individual exhibitions in Santiago de Chile: Galería Instituto Chileno-
Ogaz was a strong promoter of experimentation aimed at the discovery of new forms of expression within the artistic field. Diligent and dedicated researcher, gifted with ample organizational skills though sometimes authoritarian. Art teacher, author and theater director, painter, writer, poet, tireless editor... “An old-
