Biography
Born on 1972 in Buenos Aires. Graduated from the Escuela Nacional de Artes de Buenos Aires. In 1996 she settles in London where she does a PhD in Art (1999-2002, University of Westminster, School of Media, Art & Design) after doing a Master's Degree in painting (1996-97, Chelsea College of Art & Design). In 2004 she returns to Buenos Aires.
Along with her artistic work, she specializes in projects of cultural management, teaching and theory. She has published works in different media and is co-founder and organizer of the RIAA (Residencia Internacional de Artistas en Argentina) project, an annual artist residency since 2006, and of the NEXAR artist exchange project, since 2008.
A selection of individual exhibitions: (2008) “Wandering Visions”, Boltax Gallery, Shelter Island, New York (2007) “Campos visuales” (Visual fields), Galería 713, Buenos Aires. (2006) “Evidencias” (Evidencies), La Casona de Los Olivera, Buenos Aires. (2003) “Playgrounds”, Bearspace, London. (1999) “Taco de reina” (Queen`s heel), Centro Cultural Recoleta, Buenos Aires.
A selection of collective exhibitions: (2008) Viajes Mínimos (Minimal journeys), CCEBA, Buenos Aires / Works on Paper, Kentler International Drawing Space, New York / ArteBA 2008, Galería Vasari / Blanco (White) Sala Petorutti, Teatro Argentino, La Plata / Desplazamientos y fusiones (Displacements and fusions), Centro Cultural Recoleta (2007) Buenos Aires Photo 07, Galería Vasari / "Fotografía y pintura" (Photography and painting), Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz / "Resplandores" (Glares), Centro Cultural Recoleta / "Loop" Barcelona Video Festival / "En construcción" (In construction), MARQ, Museo de Arquitectura de Buenos Aires / Videos, Galería 713 / "At your convenience", Madame Lillie's, London (2006), "Portela 164", Centro Cultural Borges / 25AR06, Rosario II Art Week (MACRO) / "Artistas x artistas" (Artists by artists), Palatina Gallery, Buenos Aires (2005) / "InsideOut", ACA, USA (2004) Estudio Abierto, Palacio Barolo / Art.edits, India / Café Gallery Projects, London (2003) / "Living with Art", Rivington Gallery, London / "Window", Peckham Library, London (1999) / Non-stop opening, Central Point Gallery, London.
Artist residencies and awards: (2007) Kiosko Residency, Bolivia, (2007) "Het Wilde Weten" residency, Netherlands, (2005) "Atlantic Center for the Arts (ACA)", Daytona, USA, (2003) "Comhla" residency, Triangle Art Trust, North Uist, Scotland, (2000) Peabody Trust Millenium Award, project in Southwark, London, (1999) Doctoral fellowship, Quintin Hogg fellowship, University of Westminster, (1999) Research scholarship, British Federation of Women Graduates (BFWG).
Vision of art
1. Choose a work that represents you, describe it in relation to its format and materiality, its relation with time and space, its style and theme; detail its production process.
I choose the work "Book of Birds", an idea that came to me during an artist residency on the isle of North Uist, in Northern Scotland.
On each one of the 40 pages of a small book of moiré fabrics of different colours (a sampler of tapestry fabrics) I drew a different bird copied from the drawings that hanged from the walls of the house where me and other fellow artists were staying.
At a second stage, I cut out each figure, leaving thus the outlines, as if it were a sort of fretwork, and generating a yuxtaposition of cut-outs where each figure acquired a virtual presence -alien to itself- created by the colours of the birds from the following pages. I also used the cut-out figures of the birds, that were one by one sewed on a cloth that wrapped the book for its hypothetical moves, and that, at the same time, could be unfolded for display during an exhibition.
The viewer may or may not unfold the work, open the pages, read them, touch them. The book is like an archive, like a short film in which a hand goes through the pages, generating a movement that is like the fly of a bird and resembles a similar book called flipping book, in which the succession of moving pages generates animated actions.
This work comes from my interest in drawing and illustrating, writing and architecture. In this case I focused myself on the format of the book and the type of reading and observation of it, on the bird outlines and on what I call "Inner Architecture" of the house reflected on the immense amount of pictures portraying birds that hanged from its walls.
2. In general terms, how would you suggest to approach your work?
I wish that who ever is in front of my work could enter a parallel timing, different from that of the clock, in order to give the work another reading and contemplation time. The rest I leave it to the perception, taste and each person's own understanding.
3. In reference to your work and your position in the national and international art fields, what tradition do you recognize yourself in? Who are your contemporary referents? What artists of previous generations are of interest to you?
Multiple references from different fields and culture areas.
In relation to this, I work using different elements and techniques that change frequently.
There is, though, a permanent love for drawing, writing, words and bi-dimensionality, taken many times to other dimensions. That's why I often approach painting as if from its eternal reinvention, photography as an activity that has been with us since our earliest childhood, music and cinema as direct transmitters of feelings.
Thinking in terms of visual arts, I'm most inspired by the work of artists like Rebecca Horn, Juelie Mehretu, Eva Hesse, Louise Bourgeois, Gego, Sophie Calle, Toba Khedoori, Juelie Mehretu, Alberto Greco, Victor Grippo, Jannis Kounellis, Alighiero Boetti, Alex Katz, Luc Tuymans, Philip Guston, Paul McCarthy, Gerhard Richter, Marcel Duchamp, among others.
The works by these artists, besides being very inspiring to me, causes on me a certain empathy or emotion that is a relief during my moments of disbelief.
I specially like small-format paintings, medieval and renaissance art, ornaments, and the architecture with its stacked-up decades.
I'm more and more influenced by sounds and the different processes of the digital environment. It interests me the logic that makes sense and, at the same time, the ridicule.
There isn't a specific tradition or influence; there're, rather, different encounters and daily routes grouped together, what feed me and transform me.
4. Choose works or exhibitions from the last ten or fifteen years which in your opinion were very significant and explain why
Between 1996 and 2004 I've lived in England.
Of these four years, from September 2004 to September 2008, I highlight the following exhibitions, both because of the quality of the works exhibited as well as the mise-en-scène and the exhibition area and situation:
Liliana Porter retrospectives, León Ferrari, Rogelio Polessello at the Centro Cultural Recoleta, Jorge Macchi retrospective at the MERCOSUR Art Biennial, "Nada nos ocurre dos veces" ("Nothing happens to us twice"), by Tulio de Sagastizábal, "Pinacoteca de los genios" (Art Gallery of the geniuses), by Alfredo Prior and Nahuel Vecino, "Darkroom", by Roberto Jacoby, "El Amor, probablemente" (Love, probably), by Fabián Burgos, "Neocriollo" by Mónica Girón, "Brillábamos" (We used to shine) by Miguel Harte, "Una escena perdida" (A lost scene) by Matías Duville, "Espectro" (Spectre), by Hernán Salamanco, "Pinturas parlantes" (Speaking paintings) by Gustavo Marrone, the work of Karina Peisajovich for the "Blanco" (White) exhibition, "O", by Santiago Iturralde, works by Nicolás Domínguez Nacif and Estanislao Florido during different editions of "Curriculum 0", "Salado" (Salty), by Javier Barilaro, "Cuarzito5" by Mariano Giraud...
... and others that I now remember... and also other significant exhibitions that I surely was not able to see.
5. What tendencies or groupings from common elements do you see in argentine art of the last ten or fifteen years?
It's difficult for me to come up with classifications that generally end up being personal and subjective, but there's always a mix of new and old tendencies coexisting, and something similar happens when one groups works and people. To me, generally, the least 'groupable' things tend to be the most interesting ones.
I also notice, sometimes more intensely than others, a strong attachment to painting in works that frequently redefine it, or that expand it to other formats.
There is a younger generation, searching and practicing, experimenting. And there're also more projects trying to come up with possible ways of interaction, more horizontal and simultaneoud platforms of coexistance.
