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Posts Tagged ‘Antigua Abstracted’

Antigua Abstracted #3

Sunday, July 12th, 2009

Antigua Abstracted #3

One of Antigua’s many attractions is slowly discovering the piled and jumbled beauty of ruined buildings scattered throughout the old city. The romanticism and nostalgia of shattered architecture has always drawn traveler’s and tourists to places such as these- from the 19 Century grand tours taken by Europeans through Ancient Greece and Rome- to present day seekers of lost cities in the Guatemalan jungles. These half remembered places of the imagination hold a nostalgic and irresistible fascination for us, with their gaping windows and palimpsest scarred walls holding up nothing but empty sky and stars. These are places where episodes of history become entangled with our dreams- where stories and fables are as intricately woven together as the creeping vegetation that threatens to overwhelm the architecture itself. The effects of time, events, catastrophe, and nature have all worked away at the stones as a sculptor might, creating in the end, physical poetry.

text and photos by Michele Woodey.

Fountain ruin Ruin façade

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Antigua Abstracted #2

Saturday, July 11th, 2009

Antigua Abstracted #2

Luscious rivers of colour, in every hue imaginable pour through La Antigua over Holy week. Ultramarine, cobalt blue, lime yellow, day-glow orange, deep rich purples, and blood reds, all in myriad shades flow into endless combinations over the cobblestone canvas of the street. The heaped bags and bowls of rich colour remind me of the work of Anish Kapoor, in particular his early sculptural pieces made of pure molded pigment. Joyful, intense and yet playful they invite us to touch – as do the alfombras – and yet to do so, would also ruin their fragile perfection. The inspiration for the organic forms of his sculpture and installations often springs from the shape of seeds, grasses, and spores which signify the beginning of life and are in stark contrast to his other influence- the wayside altars and shrines found throughout India. A deep rooted connection with the rhythms of nature, and the transformative power of birth, death and regeneration, link the themes of his artwork with the Celebrations of Easter. And of spring, the rains and the beginning of a new life cycle…

text and photos by Michele Woodey.

Colors in a sawdust carpet Arts graphic colors

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Antigua Abstracted

Tuesday, July 7th, 2009

Antigua Abstracted

The City of La Antigua Guatemala is, for me, completely coloured by my experience of life as an artist. Often out of all the photographs I take, the ones that end up “speaking” back to me with the most intensity are those expressed abstractly through the language of line, colour, movement, form, surface and texture. In this image of a night Procession during Holy Week, the literal, representational image is almost completely dissolved by movement and light. What remains are traces of light distilled into line, a ghostly record of time passing and the impermanence of things. The Italian “Futurists” were particularly interested in finding ways to depict movement and speed through the use of repetitious painterly marks on the canvas.

In other images from Antigua perhaps it is the intensity of a colour combination, the beauty of a chance arrangement, or the quality of line which first attracts the eye. The whole history of Art can be found in Antigua and for me a creative energy resides and resonates there as a powerful living force, just waiting to be expressed into being. Maybe this a part of what draws so many people to Guatemala, this vital life energy, which is palpable in the streets, in the air itself, and manifested so strongly in its rituals, customs and people.

text and photos by Michele Woodey.

Antigua Abstracted 2 Antigua Abstracted 3

Michele WoodeyAbout Guest Contributor: Michele Woodey is an artist and painter living in Toronto. She is also “half” of a creative collaboration” known as “Fiona Hoop”. Michele is art editor, writer and contributor to Loudestgirl.com out of Miami, Florida. Fiona Hoop intends to set up studio in Antigua in the near future.

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