"Night Journeys," part of the "Lost Paradise" exhibit at Westport Arts Center Studio Gallery by Peruvian artist Guido Garaycochea, opening January 23.
“Lost Paradise” by Peruvian artist Guido Garaycochea will be on display in Westport Arts Center’s Studio Gallery, 51 Riverside Avenue, Westport, from Friday, January 23 through Sunday, February 22. The Arts Center will host an opening reception on Friday, January 23, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The oil on panel paintings in “Lost Paradise” are layered in concepts of ideas, texture and color.
“My images range from the obvious to the eccentric, the social to the personal to purposely create a new ambiguous reality,” said Garaycochea. “The work goes across a spectrum of concepts and stylistic approaches. It walks from narrative to purely abstract; from stones and trees, to nests and migrating birds, from drawing to dripping without concern, from individual feelings to general concepts.”
Garaycochea received his BFA in Peru with honors in 1987. According to the artist, the ‘80s for Peru was a difficult time because of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), and Peruvian terrorism. At the beginning of the ‘90s, Peru was virtually in a civil war. In 1992-93 Garaycochea moved to Chile to teach and further his studies. At the same time he had many solo art shows and additional group art exhibitions in Germany, Spain, Austria, Peru and Chile. Garaycochea moved to the United States in 2003 as an international artist in residence at The Griffis Art Center in New London and later at I-Park in East Haddam. He has since lived between Stonington, Connecticut and New York while developing his art.
“What I initially wanted to accomplish with my paintings was to depict my historical Peruvian and South American legacy,” he said. “I wished to reveal the greatness of the pre-Colombian cultures and the incredible philosophy of their life.”
Garaycochea studied the funeral masks of the Chimú people. The use of some materials, like gold, showed him a new face of the human being that seduced him: “the duality of the being, that interior turmoil which exists permanently inside humanity.” Duality has been the principal theme of his work, exploring the depths of the human being, particularly inside himself, expressing through his visual work his own contradictions, his own dual feelings, and also his deepest human characteristics.
The Westport Arts Center is a visual and performing arts organization dedicated to creating arts experiences that contribute to individual growth and enrich the community.
The Westport Arts Center is supported with funds from The Artur and Heida Hermanns Holde Foundation, Inc., Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism, Connecticut Light & Power, Fairfield County Bank, Gault, Inc., Main Street Resources, U.S. Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management, Westport Resources, Westport Sunrise Rotary Young Voices Program, and Xerox Foundation.
For information, contact Westport Arts Center at 203-222-7070, go to the website at www.westportartscenter.org, or visit the gallery, M-F, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sat. and Sun. from 12 noon to 4 p.m., at 51 Riverside Avenue, Westport.
