ANTONIA GUZMÁN: Los enigmas / The Riddles May 9, 2009

Couturier Gallery is delighted to present distinguished Argentinean painter Antonia Guzmán in her second solo exhibition of recent works inspired by Giacomo Puccini’s last opera Turandot. Guzmán’s paintings convey the dynamic force of Puccini’s Asiatic fairy tale using her well-known Latin American visual vocabulary to create impactful visual dramas. The opening reception for the artist will be on Saturday May 9, 6 – 8 pm.
The primary inspiration for this series is Act II of the opera where the princess Turandot asks three riddles of the Prince Calaf who wishes to marry her under penalty of death if he cannot correctly answer them all:

“What is born each night and dies each dawn?” (answer: “Hope.”)
“What flickers red and warm like a flame, yet not fire?” (answer: “Blood.”)
“What is like ice but burns?” (answer: “Turandot.”)

The paintings deliver Guzmán’s visual interpretation of these riddles. Using her familiar geometrical visual vocabulary of stick figures with triangular heads and sharp lines, while also inserting text in the work, she conveys this narrative with movement and gravity, as though these paintings are part of this musical masterpiece, suggesting a form of a performance art by Guzmán.
In La esperanza (“The Hope”), she depicts the second riddle symbolically through a circular composition of birth and death, conveying the elevated optimism occurring at night, and the harsh collision of disappointment and pessimism awakening in the light of dawn.

Antonia Guzmán’s bold and modulated palette distinctly refer to colors associated with Latin American painting: the lush reds, oranges and greens referring to vibrant vegetation, the more somber ochres, yellows and browns to the cities or land, the various planes distinguished by black and white lines, creating patterns resembling interlocking blocks similar to design patterns found in Nazca textiles as well as Incan stone buildings.

Guzmán has exhibited extensively in Europe, Latin America and the United States. Her work may be found in numerous public collections including: University of Essex, Collection of Latin American Art. Colchester, England; The Pompey Museum, Nassau, Las Bahamas; Marie d’Uckange. Uckange, France; Fundación Banco Cooperativo de Caseros, Buenos Aires.