November 22, 2025 – February 1, 2026
Ornament Is Not a Crime
Galeria La Caja Negra
In Person Viewing:
Pedro Díez Avenue 38, 3°C
28019 Madrid ES
Online Viewing:
https://lacajanegra.art/20252026_02_ornamento
Saturday, November 22nd, 12PM
The exhibition’s title plays on that of Adolf Loos’s famous lecture, “Ornament and Crime,” delivered in Vienna in 1918, and more recently used by Jan Hendrix for the monograph that compiles his contributions to various architectural projects.
In clear opposition to Art Nouveau and the Vienna Secession, Loos presented his ideas against ornamentation as an advancement in cultural evolution. “The evolution of culture proceeds with the elimination of ornament from useful objects,” Loos proclaimed, thus linking the optimistic view of cultural progress with fashion to apply biological evolution—and purification—to cultural contexts.
Having established the dichotomy between form and function, important for the world of design and architecture and much more complex to resolve in the realm of art, we propose an open exhibition to rethink the value of the decorative. Matisse had already articulated the idea of art as accompaniment music because of its capacity to create sensitive atmospheres in people and, by extension, in society.
In an era where the poles oscillate between an emphasis on spirituality and political protest, we present a collection of works that do not renounce the idea of beauty, seeking instead what lies hidden within what they reveal.
The exhibition begins with a portfolio of pochoirs by Georges Valmier, created in 1925 and intended for the production of fabrics and wallpapers. It continues with works by artists from diverse backgrounds and motivations, all of whom present pieces where the pleasure of form, beauty, or precision underpins the power of their proposals and points the way into the complex experience of art.
