Felipe Giménez and Antonia Guzmán presented the exhibit Love is in the Air: Magical Realism and the Art of Emotion at the Embassy in June 2017. The artists portray humans with all their frailties and foibles in a few strokes of a brush.  Pared down to essentials, the most minimalist of figures in both artists’ work conveys elation, anxiety, and the breathtaking willingness to take a chance on love. 

Giménez worked for many years as a child psychologist before becoming a full-time artist.  This early training permeates his art, which shows a rich sense of humor as it radiantly captures the essence of human relationships.  His style incorporates a whimsical, child’s eye view of the world in a swirl of bright color and pattern.  Giménez notes that “the echoes of listening are as much a part of my raw materials as oil and turpentine.”

Guzmán’s dreamlike tableaux are comprised of lushly colored geometric shapes, hieroglyphs and stick-like anthropoid figures.  Her work incorporates influences from Marc Chagall, Joan Miró, Paul Klee and Xul Solar, but synthesize her personal experiences into a uniquely new vision. The three paintings on display at the Argentine Embassy are from a period in 2010 when Guzmán was focusing on color palette and a way to express emotions inspired by the words of Jorge Luis Borges when he wrote in 1934: “I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart; I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat.”
 
Both artists are represented in Washington, DC by Kaller Fine Arts (kallerfinearts.com)
 
Curator
Alfredo Ratinoff