Friday, May 24, 2013

Transfiguring Art: Contemporary Colombian Abstract Painting
La Casita Cultural Center

Price: Free
La Casita Cultural Center
109 Otisco St., Syracuse

"Transfiguring Art: Contemporary Colombian Abstract Painting" is a collection of oil and acrylic pieces on canvas showcasing three contemporary Colombian artists exploring non-figurative art. The exhibit is conceived as a bridge-building opportunity and artistic exchange between artists residing at home and in the diaspora, in Colombia, Mexico, and the United States. It includes paintings by Fernando Manrique, Rafael Ordoñez, and Esperanza Tielbaard Pazmiño, all of whom explore the of textural and composition possibilities in abstract art.

The artistic proposals of Manrique, Ordoñez and Pazmiño share an interest in communicating the rich sensory experiences and of the conceptual suggestions possible in pictorial abstraction. Their works explore alternative ways of engaging reality and ask viewers to see through the senses as they travel through interweaving forms, suggestive textures, and provoking compositions. Their canvases challenge accepted distinctions between abstract and figurative painting, as well as between purist and committed art from Latin America, since they incorporate issues of identity, technology, nature, and affect as themes to be explored through the senses.

The collection invites us to be seduced by the mix and to reflect on our understanding of artistic creation and perception, and changing patterns in the 21st century.