KAREN LAMASSONNE’S DESIRING LANDSCAPES IN RUIDO / NOISE, THE EXHIBITION AT SWISS INSTITUE
Ruido / Noise is the first international survey of the work of Colombian American artist Karen Lamassone. Spanning from her early years to today, the exhibit at Swiss Institute shows the artist’s commitment to portraying women as desiring subjects.
Lamassonne´s paintings, photographs, videos, installations and collages are characteristically guided by a search for spaces and locations where it is possible to express oneself and one’s sensuality, alone or with others. From the tiled bathrooms where a room of one’s one can be found behind locked doors, to the urban bridges and parks seen in the Cali paintings, Lamassonne’s work presents varied possibilities for occupying spaces as a form of erotics in a shifting sociocultural landscape.
Besides, the exhibition features the first realization of an installation that Lamassonne proposed in 1984 entitled Ruido (Noise). Television screens playing an experimental video made while the artist lived in New York City one winter are used to light several paintings installed around them, which each depict a woman’s body illuminated by the flow of a TV. In this video of contrasts the heat of a lone body is pitched against other environments and temperatures, eventually meeting the freezing city snow.
-
Karen Lamassonne: Rudio / Noise, installation views. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
(clockwise from left) Paisaje (Landscape), 1975. Airbrush on canvas. Courtesy Adriana Galimberti and Bernardo Olarte. Sendero (Path), 1974 Colored pencil on paper. Conchas (Ears), 1974. Colored pencil on paper. Leggy, 1974. Colored pencil on paper. Courtesy Andrés Matute Echeverri. Vuelo (Flight), 1974. Colored pencil on paper. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
Karen Lamassonne: Rudio / Noise, installation view. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
(clockwise from top) Los Alférez Real (The Alférez Real), 1989. Acrylic on paper. Courtesy Andrés Matute Echeverri and Ignacio Goñi. Sobre Isaacs (Above Isaacs), 1989. Acrylic on paper. Courtesy the Rick Gell. Ventana Indiscreta (Rear Window), 1989. Acrylic on paper. Courtesy the artist and Instituto de Vision. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
Karen Lamassonne: Rudio / Noise, installation view. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
(clockwise from left) Amanecida (Dawning), 1985. Photo with crayon. Sueno húmedo III (Wet Dream III), 1987. Photo with crayon. TV Ruido (TV Noise), 1987. Photo with crayon. Courtesy Jose Dario Gutierrez. Sueno húmedo II (Wet Dream II), 1987. Photo with crayon. Courtesy the artist and Instituto de Vision. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
Ruido (Noise), 1984-2021. Paintings: Acrylic on paper. Video: ½ inch VHS video converted to digital, color and sound. 12 min 40 sec. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
Pura Sangre (Pure Blood), 1982, storyboard detail. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
-
(from left) Mano peluda (Hairy Hand), 2018. Embroidered wool, deerskin and screws on an iron stand. La mano peluda (The Hairy Hand), 2018. Gouache and pencil on paper. Courtesy of Swiss Institute.
Karen Lamassonne was one of the central figures in the male-dominated Cali and Bogotá art and film scenes during the 1970s and 80s. Through her career, she has maintained a focus on self-portraiture and depictions of intimacy. Her practice was initially centered on painting, but her involvement with cinema led to an exploration of video, photography, animation, storyboarding and art direction. She now lives and works in Atlanta, United States.
Related Topics
May interest you
PLURAL DOMAINS: AN EXHIBITION WITH SELECTED PIECES FROM THE CISNEROS FONTANALS ART FOUNDATION’S COLLECTION
The Museo de Arte de Zapopan presents selected works from the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) to explore -and question- the ways contemporary Latin American art and its main exponents are conceived.
BEYOND THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE: LATIN-AMERICAN ARTISTS CONNECTING ART, SOUND AND SOCIETY
The Lowe Art Museum presents BEYOND THE SOUNDS OF SILENCE, a project curated by the Aluna Curatorial Collective that brings together a group of 19 Latin American artist working with sound art and its social intersections.
70'S I ALTRES COSES: THE EXHIBITION OF VERA CHAVES AT ZIELINKSY
GEGO: MEASURING INFINITY. THE ARTIST'S RETROSPECTIVE AT JUMEX
The Museo Jumex inaugurates a retrospective of the work of Gertrud Goldschmit, better known as Gego. The exhibition traces her interdisciplinary artistic production in her journey through the disciplines of architecture, design, sculpture, drawing, printmaking, fabric, installations, public art and pedagogy.
LADY LIBERTY: A BONNIE LAUTENBERG RETROSPECTIVE AT JEWISH MUSEUM OF FLORIDA
The Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU opens Art Basel season in Miami Beach with the premiere of Lady Liberty: A Bonnie Lautenberg Retrospective, celebrating powerful images of women from two decades of work from the artist.
