A program of Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá
A cultural program of:
A program of Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá
A cultural program of:
Conversations
During ARTBO 2021, Beatriz Esguerra Art will present the group show “Conversations,” an exhibition that brings together the works of six gallery artists who work the two opposing themes of figuration and abstraction, proving that these can converse with each other and coexist.
Pablo Arrázola and Teresa Currea are great draftspeople, who bring their universes to life on paper. Currea constructs magical settings through her own personal take at collage. Meanwhile, Arrázola’s hyperrealist style seeks to enhance paper’s particular characteristics by turning it into a protagonist in the work. Mario Arroyave works on figuration digitally, placing his subjects within spaces that are constructed and somewhat surreal.
On the other hand, we have three abstract artists who are very organic in their processes. Santiago Uribe-Holguín’s work brings out his materials’ purest characteristics. The texture of the marble dust and sand can almost be felt due to the masterful way in which he applies it.
Carol Young emulates the flowing movement of nature, the sound of growing plants, the passage of time. Both Uribe-Holguín’s and Young’s work remind us of the mundane origins of the materials they work with, how close they are to the earth.
Alejandro Saiz is the final member of the roster, and his work’s spirit is also sober and subtle. These pieces consist of a series of abstract silhouettes which seem to resemble sketches of possible sculptures.
Colombian art has come into world focus. The international community has been discovering an exciting universe of ideas and cultures that for years had been a hidden treasure of artistic expressions. Suddenly, today they are at the forefront of global collections, art fairs, museums, and galleries. Colombia has flourished and is the focus of international investors in all fields including art.
Since opening in 2000, Beatriz Esguerra Art has promoted selected Colombian artists locally and internationally. The gallery is committed to fostering the careers of its represented artists, from emerging to established, through carefully curated projects, exhibitions, publications, art fair participation in the US and Latin America, and joint ventures with American galleries.  BEA provides consultation and services in commercializing art, curating exhibits, collections, and organizing art events. Its webpage, www.beatrizesguerra-art.com, is continually updated with the gallery’s and artists’ exhibits and activities, works available for sale, and local and international art market news.  Permanence, transcendence, intelligence, aesthetics, harmony, and skill, are the values that BEA looks for in art. Art should enrich both the soul and mind, in that order. With academic training in art history and more than 30 years of experience in the field, Beatriz Esguerra, director of Beatriz Esguerra Art, has always abided by her mission: to enrich lives through art, with integrity and professionalism.
Teresa Currea’s delicate creations juxtapose carefully cut out drawings -made with lead and colored pencils, ink, and watercolor on paper-, hand-made ceramic pieces and found objects such as light bulbs and wall sockets. Currea creates surreal multidimensional worlds within acrylic boxes and frames that poetically take the spectator on an imaginary journey. In these pieces, reality and fantasy intertwine, as relationships between apparent opposites and encounters that make no sense, present us with possible realms and question our notions of what reality consists of.
Santiago Uribe-Holguín’s work has been in constant growth throughout his career. He has always expressed an interest in layers and first began exploring them through the use of materials such as sand and marble dust. He is currently delving into color and abstraction through oil painting, a process that began back in 2017 with his series Immersions. In it, the artist sought to reveal what lay beneath the intense colors and ambiguous shapes he was working on, occasionally allowing certain shades to peer from beneath a veil of diluted paint. After a few years of continuing down this path, his recent works show the progress his ouvre has undergone since he first embarked on this exploration. Uribe-Holguín has now mastered the potency of his stroke, the way in which his palette harmonizes upon paper or canvas. No piece is like another. Although they are similar in style, they are not reproductions or imitations of each other. They are each unique expressions that through the artist’s distinct selection of shades, and particular use of gesture and form, awaken different sensations at the moment of being contemplated.
Pedro Ruiz's work occupies itself with social and political issues that affect countries worldwide. Nature and the concept that it is a force that we cannot control and must live in harmony with, is ever-present in his works. Ruiz has developed four fundamental series through paintings and installations: Love is in the Air, Displacements, Gold, and Colombiana Light. Pedro Ruiz is today one of Colombia’s most important artists. Knighted by the French Government with the Order of the Arts and Letters and Ambassador to Unicef for his strong commitment to translating his artistic messages into social projects, Ruiz has the ability of connecting with the public’s minds and hearts. In a poetic and aesthetic manner, this artist addresses political and social issues that have affected him, his country and the world: social displacement, the spraying of drug crops and its effect on nature, aggressive mining and destruction of nature by multinational companies and its effect on the rural population and the contrast between urban and rural living, among other themes. Pedro Ruiz develops his works through projects. He is an outstanding painter and sculptor and uses his academic foundations to develop artistic projects that are edgy and contemporary. It is this successful combination, that has placed him as one of Latin America’s rising stars. In recent years his project “Gold, A Spirit of Nature and Territory” has traveled to many countries (see CV) stirring the public’s inner most feelings and impacting these countries’ artistic communities. Two beautiful coffee table books have been published covering the rich evolution of his career.
Pedro Ruiz's work occupies itself with social and political issues that affect countries worldwide. Nature and the concept that it is a force that we cannot control and must live in harmony with, is ever-present in his works. Ruiz has developed four fundamental series through paintings and installations: Love is in the Air, Displacements, Gold, and Colombiana Light. Pedro Ruiz is today one of Colombia’s most important artists. Knighted by the French Government with the Order of the Arts and Letters and Ambassador to Unicef for his strong commitment to translating his artistic messages into social projects, Ruiz has the ability of connecting with the public’s minds and hearts. In a poetic and aesthetic manner, this artist addresses political and social issues that have affected him, his country and the world: social displacement, the spraying of drug crops and its effect on nature, aggressive mining and destruction of nature by multinational companies and its effect on the rural population and the contrast between urban and rural living, among other themes. Pedro Ruiz develops his works through projects. He is an outstanding painter and sculptor and uses his academic foundations to develop artistic projects that are edgy and contemporary. It is this successful combination, that has placed him as one of Latin America’s rising stars. In recent years his project “Gold, A Spirit of Nature and Territory” has traveled to many countries (see CV) stirring the public’s inner most feelings and impacting these countries’ artistic communities. Two beautiful coffee table books have been published covering the rich evolution of his career.
The Line has the leading role in the work of Colombian artist Luis Alejandro Saiz. To Saiz, the line asserts on itself because it is a living and endless entity. “Every shape I conceive in a line is valid and comprises its own entity. It surfaces from a spontaneous expression. It is my attempt at seeking, at reflecting”, says the artist, for whom graphics is a type of language that bolsters the silence. Saiz’s work is born of a mix between an Oriental practice and meditation; it allows an interruption of the inner dialogue and a recording of that which surfaces, to remain captured in a tangible and visibly artistic manner.
The Line has the leading role in the work of Colombian artist Luis Alejandro Saiz. To Saiz, the line asserts on itself because it is a living and endless entity. “Every shape I conceive in a line is valid and comprises its own entity. It surfaces from a spontaneous expression. It is my attempt at seeking, at reflecting”, says the artist, for whom graphics is a type of language that bolsters the silence. Saiz’s work is born of a mix between an Oriental practice and meditation; it allows an interruption of the inner dialogue and a recording of that which surfaces, to remain captured in a tangible and visibly artistic manner.
The Line has the leading role in the work of Colombian artist Luis Alejandro Saiz. To Saiz, the line asserts on itself because it is a living and endless entity. “Every shape I conceive in a line is valid and comprises its own entity. It surfaces from a spontaneous expression. It is my attempt at seeking, at reflecting”, says the artist, for whom graphics is a type of language that bolsters the silence. Saiz’s work is born of a mix between an Oriental practice and meditation; it allows an interruption of the inner dialogue and a recording of that which surfaces, to remain captured in a tangible and visibly artistic manner.
Using ceramics as her primary medium, Carol Young’s installations and sculptures transcend the standard perception of the material, creating work that is unique, challenging and beautiful. Her relationship with ceramics is intimate, the creation of her pieces, intuitive. She has the ability to emulate the organic, to mold and manipulate the material, producing objects that could almost appear in nature. However, Carol Young’s work cannot exist on its own. It relies on the attention, the contemplation of the viewer; for it is them who will ultimately endow these forms with meaning.
Using ceramics as her primary medium, Carol Young’s installations and sculptures transcend the standard perception of the material, creating work that is unique, challenging and beautiful. Her relationship with ceramics is intimate, the creation of her pieces, intuitive. She has the ability to emulate the organic, to mold and manipulate the material, producing objects that could almost appear in nature. However, Carol Young’s work cannot exist on its own. It relies on the attention, the contemplation of the viewer; for it is them who will ultimately endow these forms with meaning.
Using ceramics as her primary medium, Carol Young’s installations and sculptures transcend the standard perception of the material, creating work that is unique, challenging and beautiful. Her relationship with ceramics is intimate, the creation of her pieces, intuitive. She has the ability to emulate the organic, to mold and manipulate the material, producing objects that could almost appear in nature. However, Carol Young’s work cannot exist on its own. It relies on the attention, the contemplation of the viewer; for it is them who will ultimately endow these forms with meaning.
Santiago Uribe-Holguín’s work has been in constant growth throughout his career. He has always expressed an interest in layers and first began exploring them through the use of materials such as sand and marble dust. He is currently delving into color and abstraction through oil painting, a process that began back in 2017 with his series Immersions. In it, the artist sought to reveal what lay beneath the intense colors and ambiguous shapes he was working on, occasionally allowing certain shades to peer from beneath a veil of diluted paint. After a few years of continuing down this path, his recent works show the progress his ouvre has undergone since he first embarked on this exploration. Uribe-Holguín has now mastered the potency of his stroke, the way in which his palette harmonizes upon paper or canvas. No piece is like another. Although they are similar in style, they are not reproductions or imitations of each other. They are each unique expressions that through the artist’s distinct selection of shades, and particular use of gesture and form, awaken different sensations at the moment of being contemplated.
Teresa Currea’s delicate creations juxtapose carefully cut out drawings -made with lead and colored pencils, ink, and watercolor on paper-, hand-made ceramic pieces and found objects such as light bulbs and wall sockets. Currea creates surreal multidimensional worlds within acrylic boxes and frames that poetically take the spectator on an imaginary journey. In these pieces, reality and fantasy intertwine, as relationships between apparent opposites and encounters that make no sense, present us with possible realms and question our notions of what reality consists of.
Santiago Uribe-Holguín’s work has been in constant growth throughout his career. He has always expressed an interest in layers and first began exploring them through the use of materials such as sand and marble dust. He is currently delving into color and abstraction through oil painting, a process that began back in 2017 with his series Immersions. In it, the artist sought to reveal what lay beneath the intense colors and ambiguous shapes he was working on, occasionally allowing certain shades to peer from beneath a veil of diluted paint. After a few years of continuing down this path, his recent works show the progress his ouvre has undergone since he first embarked on this exploration. Uribe-Holguín has now mastered the potency of his stroke, the way in which his palette harmonizes upon paper or canvas. No piece is like another. Although they are similar in style, they are not reproductions or imitations of each other. They are each unique expressions that through the artist’s distinct selection of shades, and particular use of gesture and form, awaken different sensations at the moment of being contemplated.
Mario Arroyave’s interest in photography began empirically at age 13. While living in Costa Rica and Colombia, his vocation continued to grow alongside his studies and work in systems engineering and advertising. In 2010 he launched his career as an artist, exhibiting publicly for the first time in Bogotá. Since then, his career has been on the rise. In the past few years, Arroyave has attained national recognition and established himself as one of the young artists whose work revolves around photographic languages. He has participated in solo and group shows in numerous cities including Bogotá, Medellín, Lima, Sao Paulo, Miami, Dallas, New York and Tokyo. Arroyave’s work stems from the individual’s reinvention when impacted by his experiences. It is a work that detaches people from their defining daily interactions and places them in vacant spaces where time disappears, making them relate to each other in a different manner. “Timeline,” the artist’s most extense and recognized series, reflects this temporary non-existence, generating a notion of time-space from interactions of people or objects that inhabit or interact in a given space. In this way vast landscapes are created that expand said space as a result of the accumulation of the interactions that are generated within it, and these, in turn, are synthesized in a single timeless moment.
Mario Arroyave’s interest in photography began empirically at age 13. While living in Costa Rica and Colombia, his vocation continued to grow alongside his studies and work in systems engineering and advertising. In 2010 he launched his career as an artist, exhibiting publicly for the first time in Bogotá. Since then, his career has been on the rise. In the past few years, Arroyave has attained national recognition and established himself as one of the young artists whose work revolves around photographic languages. He has participated in solo and group shows in numerous cities including Bogotá, Medellín, Lima, Sao Paulo, Miami, Dallas, New York and Tokyo. Arroyave’s work stems from the individual’s reinvention when impacted by his experiences. It is a work that detaches people from their defining daily interactions and places them in vacant spaces where time disappears, making them relate to each other in a different manner. “Timeline,” the artist’s most extense and recognized series, reflects this temporary non-existence, generating a notion of time-space from interactions of people or objects that inhabit or interact in a given space. In this way vast landscapes are created that expand said space as a result of the accumulation of the interactions that are generated within it, and these, in turn, are synthesized in a single timeless moment.
Mario Arroyave’s interest in photography began empirically at age 13. While living in Costa Rica and Colombia, his vocation continued to grow alongside his studies and work in systems engineering and advertising. In 2010 he launched his career as an artist, exhibiting publicly for the first time in Bogotá. Since then, his career has been on the rise. In the past few years, Arroyave has attained national recognition and established himself as one of the young artists whose work revolves around photographic languages. He has participated in solo and group shows in numerous cities including Bogotá, Medellín, Lima, Sao Paulo, Miami, Dallas, New York and Tokyo. Arroyave’s work stems from the individual’s reinvention when impacted by his experiences. It is a work that detaches people from their defining daily interactions and places them in vacant spaces where time disappears, making them relate to each other in a different manner. “Timeline,” the artist’s most extense and recognized series, reflects this temporary non-existence, generating a notion of time-space from interactions of people or objects that inhabit or interact in a given space. In this way vast landscapes are created that expand said space as a result of the accumulation of the interactions that are generated within it, and these, in turn, are synthesized in a single timeless moment.
Pablo Arrázola believes we coexist with our environment in a relationship of mutual construction. Our identity is mostly the result of how we appropriate our landscape. In turn, this landscape is the result of how our identity also impacts said landscape. These two concepts come together to create infinite narratives. Arrázola tries to capture the aspects and gestures of his characters and their interaction with space, in order to generate visual narratives. His work appeals to the experience, view and memory of the observer to create stories that call upon a reflection of what is present and apparently absent.
Pablo Arrázola believes we coexist with our environment in a relationship of mutual construction. Our identity is mostly the result of how we appropriate our landscape. In turn, this landscape is the result of how our identity also impacts said landscape. These two concepts come together to create infinite narratives. Arrázola tries to capture the aspects and gestures of his characters and their interaction with space, in order to generate visual narratives. His work appeals to the experience, view and memory of the observer to create stories that call upon a reflection of what is present and apparently absent.
Pablo Arrázola believes we coexist with our environment in a relationship of mutual construction. Our identity is mostly the result of how we appropriate our landscape. In turn, this landscape is the result of how our identity also impacts said landscape. These two concepts come together to create infinite narratives. Arrázola tries to capture the aspects and gestures of his characters and their interaction with space, in order to generate visual narratives. His work appeals to the experience, view and memory of the observer to create stories that call upon a reflection of what is present and apparently absent.
Teresa Currea’s delicate creations juxtapose carefully cut out drawings -made with lead and colored pencils, ink, and watercolor on paper-, hand-made ceramic pieces and found objects such as light bulbs and wall sockets. Currea creates surreal multidimensional worlds within acrylic boxes and frames that poetically take the spectator on an imaginary journey. In these pieces, reality and fantasy intertwine, as relationships between apparent opposites and encounters that make no sense, present us with possible realms and question our notions of what reality consists of.
Pedro Ruiz's work occupies itself with social and political issues that affect countries worldwide. Nature and the concept that it is a force that we cannot control and must live in harmony with, is ever-present in his works. Ruiz has developed four fundamental series through paintings and installations: Love is in the Air, Displacements, Gold, and Colombiana Light. Pedro Ruiz is today one of Colombia’s most important artists. Knighted by the French Government with the Order of the Arts and Letters and Ambassador to Unicef for his strong commitment to translating his artistic messages into social projects, Ruiz has the ability of connecting with the public’s minds and hearts. In a poetic and aesthetic manner, this artist addresses political and social issues that have affected him, his country and the world: social displacement, the spraying of drug crops and its effect on nature, aggressive mining and destruction of nature by multinational companies and its effect on the rural population and the contrast between urban and rural living, among other themes. Pedro Ruiz develops his works through projects. He is an outstanding painter and sculptor and uses his academic foundations to develop artistic projects that are edgy and contemporary. It is this successful combination, that has placed him as one of Latin America’s rising stars. In recent years his project “Gold, A Spirit of Nature and Territory” has traveled to many countries (see CV) stirring the public’s inner most feelings and impacting these countries’ artistic communities. Two beautiful coffee table books have been published covering the rich evolution of his career.
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