ATELIER: Sculpture as a means of exploration.
September 11 - November 5, 2024
With the participation of Karian Amaya, Lorena Ancona, Paula Cortázar, Cynthia Gutiérrez y Perla Krauze
Curated by Alberto Ríos de la Rosa
Simplicity is not an aim in art, but one achieves simplicity in spite of oneself by entering into the true sense of things. - Constantin Brancusi
The artist's atelier or studio has been, throughout history, a space where the tireless search for the essence of things is pursued. In the field of sculpture, this space is not only intended for production, but is transformed into a center of experimentation where research, innovation, analysis and artistic discovery converge. An immersive environment where artists can fully immerse themselves in their craft and explore the infinite possibilities of form and materials.
In this vein, the exhibition "Atelier. Sculpture as a means of exploration" brings together the work of five pioneering Mexican sculptors: Karian Amaya, Lorena Ancona, Paula Cortázar, Cynthia Gutiérrez and Perla Krauze, offering a vision of their diverse and innovative approaches, each coming from different regions and at different stages of their careers. The present body of work reflects the result of a profound contemplation and understanding of the fundamental nature of forms, pushing the boundaries of the sculptural medium and constantly questioning traditional notions of materials and their relationship to space.
In this vein, the exhibition "Atelier. Sculpture as a means of exploration" brings together the work of five pioneering Mexican sculptors: Karian Amaya, Lorena Ancona, Paula Cortázar, Cynthia Gutiérrez and Perla Krauze, offering a vision of their diverse and innovative approaches, each coming from different regions and at different stages of their careers. The present body of work reflects the result of a profound contemplation and understanding of the fundamental nature of forms, pushing the boundaries of the sculptural medium and constantly questioning traditional notions of materials and their relationship to space.
Karian Amaya’s (Chihuahua, 1986) exploration focuses on the complex interrelations between the materials she uses, specifically copper and marble, and how these reflect the transformation of the landscape caused by human intervention, as well as the subsequent social and territorial repercussions that impact local communities. In the heart of the Riviera Maya, where the lush jungle embraces the community of Akumal, lies the studio of artist Lorena Ancona (Quintana Roo, 1981). This creative refuge stands as a sanctuary in which works emerge from the depths of the earth, like ancestral echoes of the caverns and cenotes that dot the landscape. Each piece by Ancona is a living testimony to the identity, memory and worldview of the Mayan people. The work of Paula Cortázar (Monterrey, 1991) is situated at the intersection between abstraction and figuration, with a sculptural language characterized by stylized and simplified forms that evoke and establish analogies with the vestiges and processes observed in nature. Meanwhile, Cynthia Gutiérrez (Jalisco, 1978) erects her sculptures and installations as monuments to critical reflection, exploring the structures that underpin our world both in the tangible and the symbolic. From her studio in Guadalajara, the artist immerses her thought in the construction of collective memory, national identity, the notion of progress and the gears of legitimation that shape art and culture. Perla Krauze (Mexico, 1958), with her unique sensitivity, establishes an intimate dialogue with every corner she inhabits. Through tours and mappings, she collects fragments of reality – images and objects – which she then weaves into her pieces, creating an archaeological archive of the memory of each place, a testimony to the passage of time and the human footprint.
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"Atelier: Sculpture as a Medium of Exploration" is an exhibition that celebrates the creative process and the intimate space of the studio as a place of experimentation, research and innovation. Through the works of these five great sculptors, the importance of the studio as an environment where artists can immerse themselves in their practice, explore new ideas and bring their artistic vision to life is made evident.
"Atelier: Sculpture as a Medium of Exploration" is an exhibition that celebrates the creative process and the intimate space of the studio as a place of experimentation, research and innovation. Through the works of these five great sculptors, the importance of the studio as an environment where artists can immerse themselves in their practice, explore new ideas and bring their artistic vision to life is made evident.
Karian Amaya (Chihuahua, 1986)
The artistic practice of Karian Amaya (Chihuahua, 1986) revolves around the notion of encounter. Through sculpture and photography, the artist questions the dialogues and resistances that arise between matter, landscape, and their social and territorial contexts. Deeply influenced by the land art and post-minimalism movements, her work is rooted in the formal and narrative encounter of raw, natural, and industrial materials. Karian Amaya holds a BA from the University of Guadalajara and studied Mixed Media at The Art Students League of New York. Her work has been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.
Lorena Ancona (Quintana Roo, 1981)
Visual artist who works with sculpture and ceramics, weaving together the historiography of dyes, pigments, natural materials, and Mesoamerican places. Her work is the result of a research-based practice that questions the intangible displacements of forgotten traditions, heritage, and identities. Using speculative techniques as an artistic methodology, her work seeks the potential for knowledge in the analysis and identification of biocultural, mineral, and ethnic environments. Her recent projects have shown a particular interest in archaeological contexts and technological evidence of a synthetic organo-mineral pigment (clay) known as Maya Blue, an investigation understood as part of an extended narrative in which the artistic gesture can shape possible representations and stories that reintroduce forgotten materialities that would otherwise be lost to history.
Paula Cortazar Monterrey (Nuevo León, 1991)
Lives and works within La Huasteca Park located in the municipality of Santa Catarina, N.L., where she found refuge six years ago and began a series of sculptural practices in relation to the natural landscape that surrounds her. Throughout her career, she has exhibited individually on four occasions at the Machete Gallery in Mexico City. Her work has also been included in collective exhibitions nationally and internationally in galleries and museums, including Assembly, Monticello, N.Y.; Gallery Nosco, Brussels, Belgium; Galleria Anna Marra, Rome, Italy; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico; Museo de Arte e Historia de Guanajuato, Mexico; among others. She has been invited to do residencies in national and international spaces such as Fundación Casa Wabi, Oaxaca, Mx; Hotel el Ganzo, Baja California Sur, Mx; and at the Espronceda Institute, Barcelona, Spain. In 2020 and 2015 she received the FONCA Jóvenes Creadores scholarship. Her work is part of important public and private collections in Mexico and other countries, including Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Fundación Alumnos 47 in Mexico City and Schöpflin Stiftung in Germany.
Cynthia Gutiérrez Guadalajara (Mexico, 1978) Cynthia Gutiérrez’s work is articulated from an understanding of sculpture beyond the medium. Her approaches to the three-dimensional through different supports arise from a critical strategy that seeks to question and test the vulnerability and stability of that which is structural, whether at a physical, conceptual or political level. Supported by various philosophical references, in Gutiérrez’s work the question about the future vibrates in a deep layer. The relationship between past and present, between the institutional as the epitome of the structures of power and control, and the different forms of political representation, inhabit her work to open a dialogue that, at least, allows us, if not to go to answers, to act from an awareness of the tensions we face. In this way, the construction of memory, national identity, the idea of progress or failure, the cyclical nature of collapse, the apparatuses of legitimation and their link to art and culture are frequently addressed in her pieces to raise questions and test our ability to discern and negotiate public, political and social space.
The artistic practice of Karian Amaya (Chihuahua, 1986) revolves around the notion of encounter. Through sculpture and photography, the artist questions the dialogues and resistances that arise between matter, landscape, and their social and territorial contexts. Deeply influenced by the land art and post-minimalism movements, her work is rooted in the formal and narrative encounter of raw, natural, and industrial materials. Karian Amaya holds a BA from the University of Guadalajara and studied Mixed Media at The Art Students League of New York. Her work has been exhibited in Mexico, the United States, and Europe.
Lorena Ancona (Quintana Roo, 1981)
Visual artist who works with sculpture and ceramics, weaving together the historiography of dyes, pigments, natural materials, and Mesoamerican places. Her work is the result of a research-based practice that questions the intangible displacements of forgotten traditions, heritage, and identities. Using speculative techniques as an artistic methodology, her work seeks the potential for knowledge in the analysis and identification of biocultural, mineral, and ethnic environments. Her recent projects have shown a particular interest in archaeological contexts and technological evidence of a synthetic organo-mineral pigment (clay) known as Maya Blue, an investigation understood as part of an extended narrative in which the artistic gesture can shape possible representations and stories that reintroduce forgotten materialities that would otherwise be lost to history.
Paula Cortazar Monterrey (Nuevo León, 1991)
Lives and works within La Huasteca Park located in the municipality of Santa Catarina, N.L., where she found refuge six years ago and began a series of sculptural practices in relation to the natural landscape that surrounds her. Throughout her career, she has exhibited individually on four occasions at the Machete Gallery in Mexico City. Her work has also been included in collective exhibitions nationally and internationally in galleries and museums, including Assembly, Monticello, N.Y.; Gallery Nosco, Brussels, Belgium; Galleria Anna Marra, Rome, Italy; Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Mexico; Museo de Arte e Historia de Guanajuato, Mexico; among others. She has been invited to do residencies in national and international spaces such as Fundación Casa Wabi, Oaxaca, Mx; Hotel el Ganzo, Baja California Sur, Mx; and at the Espronceda Institute, Barcelona, Spain. In 2020 and 2015 she received the FONCA Jóvenes Creadores scholarship. Her work is part of important public and private collections in Mexico and other countries, including Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Monterrey, Fundación Alumnos 47 in Mexico City and Schöpflin Stiftung in Germany.
Cynthia Gutiérrez Guadalajara (Mexico, 1978) Cynthia Gutiérrez’s work is articulated from an understanding of sculpture beyond the medium. Her approaches to the three-dimensional through different supports arise from a critical strategy that seeks to question and test the vulnerability and stability of that which is structural, whether at a physical, conceptual or political level. Supported by various philosophical references, in Gutiérrez’s work the question about the future vibrates in a deep layer. The relationship between past and present, between the institutional as the epitome of the structures of power and control, and the different forms of political representation, inhabit her work to open a dialogue that, at least, allows us, if not to go to answers, to act from an awareness of the tensions we face. In this way, the construction of memory, national identity, the idea of progress or failure, the cyclical nature of collapse, the apparatuses of legitimation and their link to art and culture are frequently addressed in her pieces to raise questions and test our ability to discern and negotiate public, political and social space.
Cynthia Gutiérrez Guadalajara (Mexico, 1978) Cynthia Gutiérrez’s work is articulated from an understanding of sculpture beyond the medium. Her approaches to the three-dimensional through different supports arise from a critical strategy that seeks to question and test the vulnerability and stability of that which is structural, whether at a physical, conceptual or political level. Supported by various philosophical references, in Gutiérrez’s work the question about the future vibrates in a deep layer. The relationship between past and present, between the institutional as the epitome of the structures of power and control, and the different forms of political representation, inhabit her work to open a dialogue that, at least, allows us, if not to go to answers, to act from an awareness of the tensions we face. In this way, the construction of memory, national identity, the idea of progress or failure, the cyclical nature of collapse, the apparatuses of legitimation and their link to art and culture are frequently addressed in her pieces to raise questions and test our ability to discern and negotiate public, political and social space.
Perla Krauze (Mexico, 1953)
Perla Krauze was born in Mexico City and studied Graphic Design at the National School of Plastic Arts (ENAP) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Later, she traveled to England to complete a diploma in Textiles and Visual Arts, and a Master's in Art at Chelsea College of Art in London. Krauze's work is multidisciplinary, exploring the relationship between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. Her work ranges from drawing and painting to sculpture and installation, also using photography, video and interventions, always in dialogue with the site and the specific space. The common thread of her work is nature, time and memory. Krauze uses a variety of materials to investigate the dualities between the ephemeral and the permanent, the rational and the intuitive, the natural and the artificial. He creates itineraries or maps by collecting images and objects that are incorporated into his pieces, creating imprints or traces of time and memory, always in relation to a specific site. He has carried out subtle interventions that reveal the cracks in the urban and natural landscape, creating a kind of archaeological documentation and memory of the place.
Curator
Alberto Ríos de la Rosa (Mexico City, 1988)
Alberto Ríos de la Rosa is an art historian and guest curator of the exhibition. He is currently curator of PAC Art Residency- Houston, and researcher for the Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection. He studied a master's degree in art history at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2014) and a bachelor's degree in art history and French literature at Macalester College, Minneapolis (2011). As curator of Fundación Casa Wabi (2014-2023), he worked on solo exhibitions by Daniel Buren, Michel François, Harold Ancart, Jannis Kounellis, Ugo Rondinone, Izumi Kato, Huma Bhabha, and Claudia Comte; developed the residency program in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, and Tokyo, where he has worked with more than three hundred art professionals from around the world, and promoted emerging Mexican artists through his exhibition platform in Mexico City. Previously, he held positions on the curatorial teams of the Museo Tamayo (2011-2013) in Mexico, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2011) in the United States, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (2010) in Venice. As an independent curator, he has focused his research on the analysis of recent practices of sculptural production, working on the development of sustainable projects for the exhibition and study of emerging artists and independent spaces.
Perla Krauze (Mexico, 1953)
Perla Krauze was born in Mexico City and studied Graphic Design at the National School of Plastic Arts (ENAP) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Later, she traveled to England to complete a diploma in Textiles and Visual Arts, and a Master's in Art at Chelsea College of Art in London. Krauze's work is multidisciplinary, exploring the relationship between the two-dimensional and the three-dimensional. Her work ranges from drawing and painting to sculpture and installation, also using photography, video and interventions, always in dialogue with the site and the specific space. The common thread of her work is nature, time and memory. Krauze uses a variety of materials to investigate the dualities between the ephemeral and the permanent, the rational and the intuitive, the natural and the artificial. He creates itineraries or maps by collecting images and objects that are incorporated into his pieces, creating imprints or traces of time and memory, always in relation to a specific site. He has carried out subtle interventions that reveal the cracks in the urban and natural landscape, creating a kind of archaeological documentation and memory of the place.
Curator
Alberto Ríos de la Rosa (Mexico City, 1988)
Alberto Ríos de la Rosa is an art historian and guest curator of the exhibition. He is currently curator of PAC Art Residency- Houston, and researcher for the Isabel and Agustín Coppel Collection. He studied a master's degree in art history at The Courtauld Institute of Art, London (2014) and a bachelor's degree in art history and French literature at Macalester College, Minneapolis (2011). As curator of Fundación Casa Wabi (2014-2023), he worked on solo exhibitions by Daniel Buren, Michel François, Harold Ancart, Jannis Kounellis, Ugo Rondinone, Izumi Kato, Huma Bhabha, and Claudia Comte; developed the residency program in Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, and Tokyo, where he has worked with more than three hundred art professionals from around the world, and promoted emerging Mexican artists through his exhibition platform in Mexico City. Previously, he held positions on the curatorial teams of the Museo Tamayo (2011-2013) in Mexico, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts (2011) in the United States, and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (2010) in Venice. As an independent curator, he has focused his research on the analysis of recent practices of sculptural production, working on the development of sustainable projects for the exhibition and study of emerging artists and independent spaces.
Opening times during exhibitions:
Monday: 13:00 – 18:00
Tuesday: closed
Wednesday to Saturday:
11:00 – 19:00
Sunday: 11:00 – 18:00
-> Accessibility
Monday: 13:00 – 18:00
Tuesday: closed
Wednesday to Saturday:
11:00 – 19:00
Sunday: 11:00 – 18:00
-> Accessibility
La Clínica
C. Macedonio Alcalá 808
68000 Centro Oaxaca
México
C. Macedonio Alcalá 808
68000 Centro Oaxaca
México