Santiago based Artist Alejandra Basualdo

I spent a few days with artist Alejandra Basualdo in her home and studio about an hour south of Santiago. After ten intense days in the heat of Santiago it was a relief spend a few days sharing her studio and enjoying some rural tranquility.

A seascape in acrylic. Bausaldos use of colour and form is moving.

Here she explains her work:

SOBRE MI PINTURA

De la revalorización de la estética al intimismo agradable y a la vez dramático. Decir las cosas fuertemente con delicadeza. El nervio más sensible. La niebla más profunda del ser humano. La comprensión agridulce del mundo. La utilización de la pintura de manera transparente, en tonalidades frágiles. Sin retórica. Con ausencia.

Detener el movimiento en un encuentro fugaz entre la luz y la sombra, entre la materia leve y liviana y la pesadez del grafismo. Cuestionar la realidad de la belleza y darle un peso plástico. Llegar a la esencia del movimiento, del encuentro con la naturaleza. Mi trabajo se inserta en ese campo, el de la levedad. Son sombras que a la vez son distancias luminosas. Colores como delicados fantasmas, la forma fantasmal de quitar el color. Enormidad y profundidad. Camino a lo desconocido. Un retrato de un mundo mudo, una panorámica de la no frontera. Un relato íntimo de primera magnitud. De desmenuzarse a ojos cerrados (rasparse la pintura). De un escalón hacia un mundo mudo, a un salto a lo no revelado. De un síntoma de sombras, o de tormenta o de mares desérticos. La exploración de una belleza áspera y del poderoso silencio de la pintura. Contemplación desmemoriada del vacío.

To see more of Basualdo’s rugged landscapes and to get in touch with her directly visit her Portfolio.

Take Spaces and Make Them New- La Jardin

Tuesday afternoon in Santiago and I arrived at La Jardin I was hot and tired of carrying by backpack laden with newspapers that Andre had given me to make ‘Take Spaces and Make Them New, Santiago’ with.
I got to cutting and cutting to make the paper chains that would transform an outside space in the garden for just a few hours.

I worked with the same forms taken from the autumn trees that I had used in my previous mural at The Clinic, but this time they varied in size and became more irregular and abstract as the hours of cutting went past. Repetitive process with out rules leads to interesting morphing with in my practice. This morphing of forms can be seen in the growing installation.

Installing the work

This was the first time I installed work outside and the the light breeze played with the paper and moved it so that it swayed, floated and flapped form where it was attached. This gave the installation a sense of freedom and mobility. The light shone throughout the paper and as it moved so did the shadows. The work seemed alive.

More Photos here: http://on.fb.me/139a91K  

The Map Exchange at Radicales

One afternoon last week I was wandering in the warm March sunshine of Santiago. When I stumbled across a cafe/gallery/residency space that connects to Santiago’s notorious bar The Clinic.
I looked about and was impressed to see so many murals covering the walls. I wanted to be a part of the action!
Before leaving I introduced my self to the staff and explained 34South|61North and that I would like to involve them in The Map Exchange.
Two days later I had been given the grand tour by Danny, one of the managers and had been assigned a wall to make my own.

The wall did not look like anything special…
Until I had the chance to work on it!

I spent the next three days making a mural that is form the same sketches as the work I entered to the RA Summer Show.
Here is how the work progressed:

Pasting cutouts onto the newly whitened wall.

All that was left to do was add the sunshine that Santiago has been full of:

Finishing touches…

Watch out for developments if you are going to be in Santiago as Danny and the crew plan to keep developing this newly opened space over two more stories to make a cinema, dance space for DJ’s and bands and to open several themed bars. All that is left to say is I am very happy to have completed the first mural collage as part of The Map Exchange and for it to be part of this new creative space, located at: MONJITAS 578, SANTIAGO DE CHILE.

Have a look at The Making of video part one.

Finishing touches.

Finished, a mural that brightens up the patio of a cafe and provides information for artists and travellers alike.

RA Summer Exhibition desde Santiago

A week in Santiago had passed. So I decided it was time to make some work that reflected on what I had seen, The RA Summer Exhibition, seemed like a good open call to motivate me. So I set about making a collage that captured the glorious late summer of the Chilean capital.

Coming form months of cold and darkness the bright sunlight and exotic vegetation was what struck me the most. So I made a collage typical to my style with found paper, simple natural shapes and vivid colour. The choice of bright yellow was an instinctive decision I made as a gratitude to the sun.

34South|61North, Santiago

Close up of the collage

After completing the work I went down to the central post office, had a nightmare with envelopes and ensuring the safe transit of my work, but did, finally manage to send it off to Richard.

Lets Hope Correos Chile and the Royal Mail treat it well…

Bon Voyage!