cristina camacho
cristina camacho
tracing the out of sight
“To know one’s own state is not a simple matter. One cannot look directly at one’s own face with one’s own eyes, for example. One has no choice but to look at ones reflection in the mirror. Through experience, we come to believe that the image is correct, but that is all.” Haruki Murakami – The Wind-up Bird Chronicle
Since Emmanuel Lévinas, every face-to-face encounter is considered the core of the basic human communication. Before words or deeds, there was the gaze, the relation to the other in order to know oneself. Every face-to-face encounter involves looking at the singularity presented without being too afraid to stare, nor too naïve to transform that singularity into a general concept. In Tracing the Out of Sight, Camacho extends an invitation to engage in a face-to-face confrontation with each painting. The artist’s obsession with faces comes from their paradoxical nature: on the one hand, they present the most intimate and singular aspect of oneself, however; they are not accessible to the bearer, or one should say, to the face owner. This aporia of the faces is what drives Camacho’s new body of work: the impossibility to access, to gaze, to encounter, to look at the most singular facet of oneself. Almost as if our identity is hidden from us, yet it is so public that anyone can look at it. This double nature of intimacy and publicity of the faces is presented in the show. Every painting has a proper name, and it is signifying not a general concept, but rather a pure and singular factuality: a face is only accessible through reflection. Along with the faces, Camacho presents a group of works, which she calls skeletons. These smaller paintings are the results of her previous show, Bilateral Dissections, where she presented the dissected bodies of anthropomorphic selves that were neither planned nor sketched. With the skeletons, the artist aims to embody the bones that were under those creatures. In her inverse process of creation, first comes the painting and then the structure, the sketch. With her painting and cutting, she introduces us in a canvas that stops being a canvas to become something else that is singular, palpable and real. It is not an object to be seen, but rather to communicate with, like a face-to-face encounter. Camacho traces what cannot be seen, what is out of sight. Both the faces and the skeletons are the buildup of ones identity; yet, one does not have direct access to neither of them. New York, 2017
Toru (2016), flashe and acrylic on canvas, 56” x 56”
Skeleton – Morphing Araceae (2017), color pencil on canvas, 28” x 25”
Skeleton – Woven March (2017), color pencil on canvas, 28” x 28”
Tomás (2017), acrylic on canvas, 56” x 56”
Skeleton – Feeling Purple (2017), color pencil on canvas, 28” x 25”
Olivia (2016), acrylic on canvas, 56” x 56”
Skeleton – Vessel (2017), color pencil on canvas, 28” x 28”
Narciso (2016), acrylic on canvas, 56” x 50”
Agatha (2017), flashe and acrylic on canvas, 56” x 56”
BIO Cristina Camacho. B. 1987. Bogotá, Colombia. EDUCATION 2013-15 Columbia University, New York, NY. MFA Visual Arts. 2010-12 Parsons New School of Design, New York,
NY. Certificate in Fine Arts. 2006-10 Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia. BFA in Communication and Product Design Minor in Fine Arts OTHER STUDIES 2010-12 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY. Continuing Education. 2011 Art Student League, New York, NY.
Painting. 2011-12 New York University, New York, NY. Continuing Education - Art History EXHIBITIONS 2017 Praxis Gallery, Solo Show: Tracing the Out of Sight, New York, NY. 2016 Centro de Bellas Artes Cafam, Punto
de Partida. Bogotá, Colombia. Galería El Museo, Solidarte 2016. Bogotá, Colombia. Museo del Barrio at Context, Relational Abstractions. Curated by Rocio Aranda- Alvarado. New York, NY. Central Booking Gallery, No Toxic Factor. Curated by Keren Moscovitch. New York, NY. 2015 Praxis Gallery, Solo Show: Bilateral Dissections. New York, NY. Raw-Art Gallery, Finals. Curated by Nogah Davidson. Tel-Aviv, Israel. Nancy Margolis Gallery, Summer Show. New York, NY. The Active Space. Double Double Visions Visions, Curated by Chistian Berman. Bushwick, NY. West 10th Window, Dissections. New York, NY. Fisher Landau Center, MFA Thesis Show. Curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud. Long Island City, NY. St Nicks Alliance and Arts@Renaissance, New Work, New York. Curated by Kat Griefen, Brooklyn, NY. 2014 Blackston Gallery, Spectral Haze Event Horizon. Curated by James CaseLeal. New York, NY. Columbia University, Second Year Open Studios. New York, NY. Galería Nueveochenta, Subasta: Alas para la vida. Bogotá, Colombia. 200 Livingston, Networking Tips for Shy People. Brooklyn, NY. Columbia University, First Year Show. Curated by Deborah Cullen. New York, NY. 2013 Columbia University, First Year Open Studios. New York, NY. 2012 School of Visual Arts, Residency Open Studios: Deconstructed Self. New York, NY. School of Visual Arts, Residency Open Studios: Constructed Self. New York, NY. School of Visual Arts, Solo Show: Paintings and Collages on View. New York, NY. 2011 School of Visual Arts, Open Studios: Lost in the Forest. New York, NY. School of Visual Arts, Open Studios: La Metamorfosis del Pez. New York, NY. 2010 Universidad de los Andes, Volarán: Los Sueños de Emma. Bogotá, Colombia. 2009 Universidad de los Andes, Andando: Vírgen Madre Mia. Bogotá, Colombia. RESIDENCIES 2012 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY. Summer Residency Program, Painting and Mixed Media. 2011 School of
Visual Arts, New York, NY. Summer Residency Program, Painting and Mixed Media. PRIVATE COLLECTIONS LACMA (Los Angeles County Museum of Art). Los Angeles, CA. Michael Jacobs art collection. New
York, NY. Jimenez – Colón Collection. Ponce, Puerto Rico. Nancy Margolis art collection. New York, NY AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS 2015 Rema Hort Mann Foundation Nominee, New York, NY. Deans Travel Grant, Columbia University,
New York, NY. Hayman Visual Arts Scholarship, Columbia University, New York, NY. Birren Scholarship, Columbia University, New York, N Y. Teacher Assistant Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, NY. 2014 Visual Arts Scholarship, Columbia University, New York, NY. Film Scholarship, Columbia University, New York, NY. Teacher Assistant Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, NY. 2013 Visual Arts Scholarship, Columbia University, New York, NY. Teacher Assistant Fellowship, Columbia University, New York, NY. 2006 Honorary Degree, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia EXPERIENCE 2015 Teaching Assistant, Painting 1, Columbia University, New York, NY 2014 Teaching Assistant, Painting 1, Columbia University, New York, NY 2010-11 Artist Assistant, Pedro Cuni
Grace (2016), acrylic on canvas, 56” x 56”
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