LYDIARUBIO STUDIO WORK
SYSTEM OF WORK CONSTRUCT-DECONSTRUCT WORD-IMAGE
FIXED STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS : • Works in groups united by numbers, letters geometry • Element of change : movement and various installations •References to other works of art, literature, music FLEXIBLE ELEMENTS : • Subject matter : political, personal , life situations
Given : 9 roses, 2010 Gouache and collage on canvas, 30 x 22 “
Tattoos of Her Sorrows, 2010
Hand colored etching , 19 x 24, edition of 10, 2010
The Spirit and the Prince , 2010 Mixed media on Indian paper, 18 x 24 “
Thunbergia 2010, Unique artist accordion book in wooden box , watercolor on paper , 9” x 7” x 2 “
Studies for paintings , collage and charcoal on paper, 2009
L’ETRANGERE
One person exhibition Beaux Arts Des Ameriques, Montreal QC 2009
Etrangere Series, MUNDO 2009 Five panels each 24” x 24” oil on wood Collection of the University of Indiana Fine Art Museum, Bloomington.
MUNDO Detail of two panels each 24 “ x 24 “
MUNDO Detail of center panel 24 “ diameter
Etrangere Series 2009 related to poem by M Agosin, Water and Earth elements, oil on raw linen each 48 “x 42�
Etrangere Series 2009
related to poem by M Agosin, Fire and Air elements, oil on raw linen each 48 x 36 �
Etrangere Series, 2009 Visa pour un reve. Diptych Oil on wood 48 “ diameter and paper sculpture 30” x 60 “ x 12”
Etrangere series , 2009 Charcoal studies on handmade paper each 30� x 23�
Etrangere Series 2009, La vie de son Monde Invente Oil on canvas Triptych each 54” “ x 44” overall 54 “ x 136”
Etrangere Series 2009, Artist book unique original. 20 pages plus cover, watercolor and ink on hand made paper. 9 x 12�
Etrangere Series 2009 , Passaporte Artist Book, Edition of 10 Accordion 6 “ x 20 “
Etrangere Series 2009 Etching and chine colle 64� x 32 “
Arte Al Dia Internacional March 31 2010 Review
Lydia Rubio Beaux-Arts des Amériques, Montreal
by Adriana Herrera
The title of Lydia Rubio’s exhibition at the Beaux-Arts des Amériques, L’Étrangère (The Foreigner), evokes the title of Albert Camus’s famous book, although the artist obtained inspiration from a poem by Marjorie Agosin. Unlike the traveler who is indifferent to the absurdity of what sur- rounds him, “The foreigner” sets out on her travels as if trying to decipher a meaning, a clue, as she journeys on. This becomes evident in the progressive revelation of linguistic signs in the paintings that structure her polyptychs in sub-series that nar- rate different sojourns in the course of her trip. The exhibition features a series of five works that show The Foreigner moving along a fiery yellow land. The word “world” is gradually built through the inscription of a single letter in each work. On the other hand, there is a use of images essem- tially associated to the collective unconscious, such as the boat, which alludes to migrations, or the house associated to the self. While the recurring representation of the island contains an allusion to her own condition as an artist in exile, her symbol- ogy of uprooting is existential and related to gender issues. The Foreigner flies, taking with her the island with the house and the boat; or she runs along the fields carrying the boat on her back; or she supports the weight of the world with her hands, like a female Atlas. In all the mentioned cases, the load is a hindrance or a heavy weight, and the feet − represented almost as blots − are not firmly planted.
These diurnal and terrestrial works are preceded by four graphic works (two diptychs) associated to the cosmic night and to the formation of the word “Fata”, oracle. Each title corresponds to a fragment of one of Agosin’s verses, and to another stage of the trip. Pyramidal figures emerge, and so does the same geometric spiral based on the Nautilus that she used in a monumental public sculpture. The traveler gradually unbinds herself. Now she stands upon the world or upon the island, or handles a weight lightened by the use of threads, or floats on a higher plane above the house, the boat and the island, which sail adrift. The segmentation of the paintings in two drastically divided backgrounds constitutes an allegory. There is a liberation from weight, but not a full integration. The journey continues and it becomes a third ensemble, now made up of a triptych of oil paintings illustrating a cosmic integration. The foreigner is no longer an “alien” in this environment; it does not weigh down upon her and she does not detach herself from it: she executes a sort of blue dance that includes the participation of the sea, the island and the sky, as well as of essential geometric figures and the mirrorlike play of the painting within the painting.
Only then does Visa pour un rêve emerge: the unique, circular work in which The Foreigner is portrayed as the swimmer who pulls the boat of her triangular universe effortlessly from one side to the other within the frame of a white square. In the exhibition, the paper boats taken from this work establish a thread of continuity with the drawing sketches on artisan paper and the layout of the Passport, the evidence of foreign status but also the permit to travel freely from one place to another. Sequential creation and the interplay of correspondences are decisive. Somehow there are no loose pieces, and the definitive pictorial version of a work does not have, in and of itself, the same relevance as the integral proposal that is structured, precisely, as a complete world in which graphic design, with a strong textual context, and the artist’s books that function as a logbook recording thought and creation processes, are essential. Rubio thus gathers together the artisanal − taking particular delight in calligraphic aesthetics − and the exploration of the artwork that can be read at the moment of its creation not only in an iconographic way but also textually. There is no doubt that any exhibition of hers must include these artistic notebooks that contain what is untransferable in her work.
DISCLOSURES One person exhibition Kunshaus Miami, 2008 Commentary changes by turning paintings around
Commentary changes by turning painting around
Of National Relevance, 2008 oil on panel, two installations 24� diameter
Of Relative Value, 2008 Oil on panel 24� x 24 “ Commentary changes by turning painting around
The Collectors 1, 2008 oil on panel 24 “ diameter
The collectors 2, 2008 . Oil on panel 24 “ diameter Commentary changes by turning painting around
Commentary changes by xturning painting around The Collectors 3, 2008 oil on panel 24� diameter
References to other works Fragmentation of Images
CONSTRUCT-DECONSTRUCT
LOT 24 INSTALLATION 2008, painting, book and slide show
LOT 24 reinterprets and comments upon the Exodus from Sodom and Gomorrah of Peter P Rubens at the Bass Museum of Art
LOT 24 2007 INSTALLATION #1 Oil on metal in 24 sections, each 22” x 16 “
Overall 96” x 144”
LOT 24 INSTALLATION #2
sections 1 to 6 22” x 92”
ROTATION OF IMAGES LOT 24 INSTALLATION #2 Sections 7 to 12 turned to horizontal format 16” x 142”
LOT 24 INSTALLATION # 2 Sections 13 to 18 turned to horizontal format 16” x 142 ”
LOT 24 INSTALLATION #2
Sections 19 to 24 22 x 96 “
LOT 24 Section 12 in both vertical and horizontal formats
LOT 24 Section 18 , vertical and horizontal formats
Lot 24 Process Book,
48 pages Ink and gouache on paper.
LOT 24 Book of studies, ink and gouache 18” x 14 “ 48 pages unique original.
CONSTRUCT – DECONSTRUCT
Multipaneled paintings united by WORDS NUMBERS GEOMETRY with various installations rotation of images
AIRTALK , 2007 oil on panel, 7 sections each 16” x 16” Various installations
IN AN IMAGE, Multi-paneled painting with various installations, 9 panels each 16 “ x 16 “
IN AN IMAGE , Installation 2 48 “ x 48 “
VINALES , 2000 Multi-paneled piece with various installations, oil on panel.
Bird in Box , watercolor segments mounted on panel, in a wooden box. . Overall dimensions 24 x 18 “
ABBREVIATED BIO 2010 LYDIA RUBIO Lydia Rubio’s multidisciplinary works are distinguished by the use of words and images in multi-paneled pieces and integrated installations. Her works suggest discontinuous narratives, riddles in spatial sequences. The paintings are often accompanied by artist journals. Ms. Rubio has completed important public art commissions. In 2008 The Gate of Earth, a large scale sculpture and terrazzo design for the Raleigh Durham Airport, and in 2009 The Women’s Park Art Gates, for Miami Dade County Art in Public Places. The Gate of Air, a second RDU commission, will be completed in 2010. She is a recipient of the Creative Capital Professional Development Fellowship in 2007, Pollock Krasner Fellowship in 2006, the State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Painting 1994 and the Cintas Fellowship 1982.
Ms. Rubio’s works are in the permanent collections of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, the Wolfsonian FIU, the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Miami Dade Community College, The Cuban Heritage Collection of the University of Miami, The Frost Art Museum, Bryn Mawr College and Lehigh University Art Galleries, and important private collections in New York, Miami and Europe. Ms. Rubio has a Masters degree from the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University and a B Arch degree from the University of Florida. She has traveled extensively and lived in Puerto Rico, Boston and New York, she is based in Miami, Florida.
She is currently represented by Beaux Arts Des Ameriques in Montreal QB, where she recently had a solo show Etrangere. www.beauxartsdesameriques.com
L Y D I A R U B I O
PORTFOLIO Š 2010 LYDIA RUBIO, www.lydiarubio.com rubio20@bellsouth.net do not reproduce without permission