Elvira Amor

Elvira Amor presents her first solo exhibition in Madrid at CASTELLANA 22, featuring a collection of colorful abstract paintings in various formats, inspired by representations from different ancient cultures.

Madrid-based artist Elvira Amor (1983) presents her first solo exhibition in the Spanish capital at CASTELLANA 22, titled "Anaranjado delgado," showcasing a collection of colorful abstract paintings in various formats, inspired by representations from different ancient cultures. Symbols and abstractions that appeared in the motifs of early civilizations and have persisted throughout history, becoming a universal language.

Elvira Amor's work revolves around painting and abstraction. Her art creates its own language, investigating elementary forms representing different cultures and periods. These references are subtly and fluidly present in her work, neither descriptive nor narrative. "I am interested in ancient cultures but also non-Western cultures that offer a much broader view of understanding art. Generally, we see everything from a Eurocentric perspective, from where the narrative of art history has been written. These cultures expand this perspective," explains the artist. The title of the exhibition itself, "Anaranjado delgado," which will be open for viewing from October 25th to December 15th, 2017, pays homage to a type of ceramic made during the classical period in Mesoamerica (2nd-8th century AD), a source of inspiration for the artist since the beginning of her career.

Rhythm and Color
Around twenty paintings ranging from small to large formats share the spotlight with original canvases shaped in curved or oval forms, thanks to a dynamic exhibition setup designed by the artist herself, which also includes a site-specific piece created especially for the walls of CASTELLANA 22. The urban garden of the space also hosts three outdoor sculptures made of metal, marking the artist's first time working with this material. "Color and its combinations, rhythm, the composition of the pieces, and their three-dimensionality stand out in my work. I am very interested in the image that one constructs of my painting as a whole, which is why I create installations and compositions where paintings are involved but also everything surrounding them, in this case, walls, rocks, garden, floor, walls...," comments Elvira Amor.

Artists such as Helen Frankenthaler, Hélio Oiticica, or Tarsila do Amaral, who have not entered the "official" narrative of art history, are part of the artist's ideology. "It just so happens that I always find a more akin sensibility with this type of artists; all of them built a new modernity that had nothing to do with the European gaze even though they haven't been included in the Western discourse."

International Trajectory

Elvira Amor (Madrid, 1984) holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Castilla-La Mancha (Cuenca, 2003-2009). She has lived, studied, and worked in Madrid, Cuenca (Spain), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Puebla (Mexico), Brussels (Belgium), Yogyakarta (Indonesia), exhibiting in each of these countries.

She completed the postgraduate course in International Cultural Relations, Cultural Policies, and Cooperation in Ibero-America (University of Girona - Organization of Ibero-American States OEI, UNESCO Chair of Cultural Policies and Cooperation, Spain, 2011) and has received academic exchange scholarships at Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico (January 2008 - January 2009); École des Recherches Visuels LA CAMBRE (Brussels, Belgium, September-December 2007); Académie Royale des Beaux-Arts (Brussels, Belgium, September 2005-June 2006); Institut Seni Indonesia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia (September 2001 - January 2003).

She has been awarded the Artistic Production Award from Fundación Banco Santander (2016) and was selected for the Cultural Management Training Scholarship AECID. Cultural Center of Spain in Buenos Aires, Argentina (2010-2012).

Among her solo exhibitions are "El rumor de los bordes" (Mundo Dios, domestic art center, Mar del Plata, Argentina, 2012); "Miradas: Bruselas-Puebla" (Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, 2008); "Ciudad Común" (Universidad Insurgentes, Mexico City, 2008); "Proyecto Residence Nord" (intervention in public space Brussels, Belgium, 2007); or "Sampai Jumpa" (at the studio of the Grafis Minggiran artist collective, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 2003).