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Cecilia ParedesBlue Flight, 2021Photo performance inkjet print46.75 x 36 in
118.6 x 91.4 cmEdition of 7"Paredes’ works invoke forms of empathy lost in today's increasingly rushed life as well as forms of adaptation that living organisms invent to extend their survival. Her work thus forces us to halt, breathe look at our bodies and reconnect with our own transient and perishable condition."
- Miguel A. Lopez from "Fragility Is My Name: The unstoppable creative river of Cecilia Paredes", Cecilia Paredes: El No Retorno, 2018.
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Ruiz-Healy Art is pleased to present Cecilia Paredes: The Two Twilights. This is the fourth solo show of Cecilia Paredes with Ruiz-Healy Art but the first at our New York City gallery. An exhibition catalogue with an essay by Elizabeth Ferrer will be available.
Paredes’s photo performance works often center around the concept of home and relocation, stemming from her move to the United States from Costa Rica in 2004. The Two Twilights draws further inspiration from the periods of quarantine and isolation experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic. Hidden among themes of suffering are symbols of hope and rebirth that leave the viewer with a feeling of comfort in a time of great uncertainty.
"History of the Night", a poem by Jorge Luis Borges, frames these works perfectly and embodies the human experience at its present state. There is before and after this. And both are blue, blue as for longing and bittersweet memories and blue as the wonderful blue sea or the sky, so profoundly renewed every day.
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Cecilia ParedesThe Unseen Glance, 2021Photo performance inkjet print43 x 30 3/4 in
109.2 x 78 cmEdition of 7"The front door of my studio is separated from the ER entrance of the University of Pennsylvania Hospital by an open-air car park. This allows me to see and hear again and again, ambulances and helicopters arriving. A constant reminder of the cruel truth of covid-19. During this time, l have worked on four tapestries and some engravings and one sculpture. I am starting a sculpture in glass right now, fragility is in my mind."
- Cecilia Paredes
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Cecilia ParedesOf Wings and Thorns, 2020Photo performance inkjet print47 x 39 in
119.4 x 99.1 cmEdition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs"The wings represent escaping, and getting out of what we are currently experiencing, and the thorns are a metaphor for the difficult situation that we are living in."
- Cecilia Paredes
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In Of Wings and Thorns Paredes photographs herself from a bird's eye view camoflauged among birds and thorns. Bought in France pre-covid, the wallpaper contains tags with the names of influential ornithologists like Alan Turing, John James Audubon, and Charles Darwin whose treatise on adaptation is still so relevant as we all have tried to adapt to our current situation.
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Cecilia ParedesMagnolia Stories, 2021Photo performance lightbox21 x 31 1/2 x 3 in
53.3 x 80 x 7.6 cmEdition of 3"The hands in this photo intertwine, almost like a vine, reflects the idea of vanitas. These works show a beautiful banquet and garden, with people enjoying themselves, yet always contain a motif depicting death. This serves as a reminder that we are just passing."
- Cecilia Paredes
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Cecilia ParedesThe Voyage, 2019Photo performance inkjet print58 x 32 3/4 in
147.3 x 83.1 cmEdition of 7 plus 3 artist's proofs“I wrap, cover or paint my body with the same pattern of the material and represent myself as part of that landscape. Through this act, I am working on the theme of building my own identification with the entourage or part of the world where I live or where I feel I can call home.”
– Cecilia Paredes
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Cecilia ParedesThe Whisper, 2021Photo performance inkjet print51 x 34 in
129.5 x 86.4 cmEdition of 7"In the critic Fietta Jarque's excellent definition, Paredes is a 'secret shaman', 'someone who makes you look and listen, disguised among other forms'. This is precisely her strategy: composing new choreographies of elements in order to see the future through them."
- Miguel A. Lopez from "Fragility Is My Name: The unstoppable creative river of Cecilia Paredes", El No Retorno, 2018.
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Cecilia ParedesPheasant and Peacock Dress, 2017Fine feathers on cloth16.5 x 13 in
41.9 x 33 cmFeather dress touches on the ability to fly and have freedom. Its form as a woman’s dress refers to the feminine identity and desire to be free.
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Tapestries
During the initial lockdown of Spring of 2020, Paredes experimented with using found materials, beginning with an old piece of linen and a pair of curtains. From this experimentation was born the inspiration for her tapestries, made from discarded and intentionally aged materials. Made from silk, felt, and knotted textile, these woven tapestries display themes of destruction and rebuilding. As an artist whose main inspiration comes from traveling and an interest in other cultures, this is a shift from her classic photo performance pieces and a labor of love born out of the pandemic.
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About the Artist
Cecilia Paredes: The Two Twilights: New York
Past viewing_room
