An important figure in post-war Latin American abstraction, Olga de Amaral creates non-traditional fiber works whose scale and structure reflect her early studies in architecture and her interest in mathematics. The founder and director of the weaving department at the Universidad de los Andes, in the mid-1970s she began experimenting with gold leaf and acrylic paint on gesso. By applying gesso onto interwoven or plaited tapes of linen and cotton, she creates a base layer that allows her to paint, rather than dye, the fiber. Her use of gold leaf, which references the rich history of the mineral in Colombia, imbues her work with a luminosity while evoking an imagined pre-Hispanic past.