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Argentinean painter Antonia
Guzmán’s second solo exhibition of recent works
(Los Enigmas, May 9 – June 13 at Couturier
Gallery), explores
the narrative and emotional terrain of Giacomo Puccini’s
last opera, Turandot. This is challenging
subject matter – in his later works Puccini was
influenced by Stravinsky, Schoenberg and Rimsky-Korsakov
and Turandot is a landmark work that introduced
contemporary elements and eschewed traditional Italian
harmonies in favor of a more modernist and international
flavor. Turandot’s emotional and narrative
elements are a bit strange (well, it’s an opera), and
might briefly be described as the tale of a spoiled,
murderous princess who is persuaded to give up beheading
suitors by the power of love.
In Guzmán’s
paintings, Puccini’s Asiatic fairy tale is interpreted
through a rich Latin-American visual vocabulary that
echoes both the emotional content of Puccini’s opera
and, with a few Futurist flourishes, pays tribute to the
cultural context of the composer’s work.
Guzman employs a Latin-American palette of vibrant reds,
oranges and greens moderated by flat planes of ochre’s,
yellows and browns intersected by black and white lines
that create patterns suggesting Nazca textiles and the
geometric intricacies of Incan stone buildings.
Triangular-headed stick figures occasionally race
energetically through her abstract landscapes, adding an
enigmatic narrative quality.
The primary inspiration for Guzman’s paintings is the
three riddles Turandot demands potential suitors must
solve to gain her hand (and avoid beheading):
“What is born each night and dies each dawn?”
(“Hope.”)
“What flickers red and warm like a flame, yet not
fire?” (“Blood.”)
“What is like ice but burns?” (“Turandot.”)
(SPOILER ALERT: Clever Prince Calaf solves the riddles,
wins Turandot’s heart and then challenges the princess
to answer one of his own: She must discover his true
identity by dawn or he will take his own life. After
a bit of torture and a near revolution, love triumphs).
Guzmán has exhibited extensively in Europe, Latin America
and the United States. Her work may be found in numerous
public collections including those of the University of
Essex, Collection of Latin American Art, Colchester,
England; the Pompey Museum, Nassau, Las Bahamas; Marie
d’Uckange, Uckange, France; and the Fundación Banco
Cooperativo de Caseros, Buenos Aires.
The opening
reception for the artist will be on Saturday May 9, 6 - 8
pm, which will be hosted, with great appreciation, by the
General Consulate of Argentina in Los Angeles.
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