GUADALOUP ON DEATH AND CONTEMPORANEITY

By Mercedes Abella | November 13, 2023

Based on futuristic tales, Guadaloup Vilar created an entire universe where life and art are supported by death. Completely functional to organic and cohesive development, Guadaloup’s artworks and installations reshape the notion of expiration.

GUADALOUP ON DEATH AND CONTEMPORANEITY

With a background in garment design, Guadaloup decontextualizes her textile practice and explores materiality in a cyclical and spiritual way. Her self-reflecting practice and the scale of her installations Pollux III and Registro Cutáneo breathe life into discarded materials. This experience between the artist’s philosophy and the result of her work catalyzes new meanings of waste, death and evolution.

Vilar’s aesthetic subjugates ergonomics and haunts time itself, as it elevates from the traps of abandon. The nude palette plays with striking blacks, creating a harmonious but still impactful forging between periods. Boundaries are challenged and softened.

Guadaloup’s command of past and future times are evidenced by her new relationship with the Afridi gallery. Amid period pieces, her works transcend contemporary notions of beauty, health and environment in an interdisciplinary stimulus.

Antique carpets and textiles have been at the heart of the Afridi gallery collection for many years, always enhanced by objects and artworks from all epochs and parts of the world. Contemporary works have never been a feature of the gallery offering until Shahbaz Afridi discovered works by Guadaloup Vilar at the Argentine Embassy in London earlier this year. Recognizing her talent and as a result of several interesting discussions, Afridi decided to commission Guadaloup to create a series of designs which will be realized in woven form as carpets and textiles in 2024.

“Guadaloup's works evoke a sense of timelessness and universality, placing them equally in both contemporary and more traditional settings” shared the gallery’s Director.