THE MARVELLOUS WORLD OF CELINA ECEIZA

Celina Eceiza (Tandil, 1988) transforms three rooms of the Museum of Modern Art into a fantastical world where the mind, almost obediently, surrenders to the space. The eyes travel across a landscape shaped by pastel chalk, charcoal, aniline, bleach, latex paint, wool, leather, cords, fabric scraps, fixative, gauze, blankets, carpets, plaster, wire, wood, tin, branches, recycled plastic, and lamps.

Ofrenda is an immersive exhibition produced by the museum and curated by Jimena Ferreiro. The paintings, sculptures, and drawings showcase a combination of different techniques from traditional textile production, such as collage and patchwork. The young artist demonstrates her mastery of color and her ability to create varied textures on surfaces while using diverse materials to build multiple dimensions. She has worked on each piece, as Ferreiro explains, “until it becomes a single soft surface, sensitive to any variation.”

The complexity of the work can be understood and enjoyed by audiences of all ages, either individually or collectively. Eceiza has created three interconnected environments, as if representing inevitable stages of life, each evoking unique emotions—delight, interpretation, and dreams. The experience as a whole forms a childlike dream palace that adults long for, that entertains the young, and that children would never want to lose. It embodies intelligent innocence, a profound understanding of reality and its essence.

One of the pieces reads: "A material called planet Earth," emphasizing how thousands of combinations of materials, shapes, colors, strokes, ideas, and textures come together to create this world. A fantastical world that does not escape reality but does evade rigid rationality—clocks that lose their hours, tiny houses suspended in the air, unique morphologies, oversized fruits, arms and legs stretching toward the ceiling.

The exhibition flows between the audience and the artwork; there is a clear exchange. The offering (ofrenda) exists on both sides. Just as one searches for shapes in the clouds and invents stories about the incomprehensible, visitors are given the possibility of infinite interpretations.

The compositions are filled with figures that expose interpersonal connections. The energy and emotions of these characters unfold across the walls, ceiling, and floor. Within this universe, the artist has woven together references from 20th-century art movements and multiple layers of cultural history, from Greco-Roman antiquity to the spirit of 1960s hippie culture.

Ofrenda will be on display until March 30, 2025, at the Museum of Modern Art of Buenos Aires, located at Av. San Juan 350, San Telmo, Buenos Aires, (Argentina).