Sunday, December 9, 2-5pm
Alameda 6, Colonia San Antonio
free

Body Fictions, open sudio - opening
by Kathleen Cammarata

The depiction of the body can never be neutral like the drawing of a chair. The practice of drawing from a nude model did not develop until the fifteenth century in Renaissance Florence. It coincided with the availability of cheap paper manufactured for the newly invented printing press. This paper allowed artists to make exploratory drawings. The sketchbook was a by product of this period.

What ensued was a routine exploitation of the female body as a signifier of erotic desire. In the art form of the European nude, the painters, spectators and collectors were men. The “Venus of Urbino” by Titian and “Olympia” by Manet are two examples of a large number of works.

In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries artists emerged, many of whom were women, who depicted all aspects of the body. Their drawings and paintings acknowledge the body’s blood, bowels, and genitals. Contemporary works express feelings, pain, and disease. Two known artists in this category are Louise Bourgeois and Marlene Dumas. And an extraordinary example of this genre is Frida Kahlo.

In Cammarata’s drawings the body reveals interior thoughts and experiences. Figures have an attitude. Hands gesture with feeling. Bodies have markings of memory, words and poems. Faces are in shadow rather than having a flirtatious look in the eyes or on the lips. The drawings are a testimony to the human condition.

Cammarata has been drawing and painting for 35 years. She taught in two museums and a university. She has won over two dozen awards and grants. Her work is in collections in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.

“Body Fictions” can be seen at Esperanza Studio on Sunday, Dec. 9th from 2 to 5 pm at Alameda #6 in Colonia San Antonio or by appointment by emailing katcammarata@gmail.com.