100 years of Guayaquil art take over three cultural spaces in the city

Unpublished, famous and historical works of art surround the walls of the MAAC, the Municipal Museum and the Núcleo Guayas House of Culture, which are the venue for the most comprehensive exhibition of Guayaquil art to date.

Joining efforts from various institutions always brings gratifying and collective results, indicate the organizers of the exhibition that will be in force until February 2023. That said, the University of the Arts and the Casa Grande University joined the previously mentioned entities, together with prominent artists, teachers and researchers, create the Guayaquil School of Painting exhibition, 100 years of art in the port.

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This exhibition aims to show the pictorial tradition that has been forged in the city in the last 100 years and its link with artistic-pedagogical processes. Saidel Britoartist and organizer, points out that arrangements were made at the Municipal Museum to accommodate the more than 100 paintings destined to be hung in this location.

For example, one of the renovations was to change the color of the walls: “In this area there are two micro-curators, separated by walls of different colors; that of the contemporary painter, Jorge Velarde it is the green one, and mine is the pink one” explains the also professor at Casa Grande University.

Brito He comments that there are a total of 10 micro-curatorships in the sample. Two will be exhibited at the House of Ecuadorian Culture, that of Joaquin Serrano Y Hernan Zunigaand finally those of the MAAC that are six: Xavier Patino, Marco Alvarado, Marcos Restrepo, Juan Carlos Fernandez, Juan Caguana Y William Hernandez.

These curators chose a total of 200 artists from Guayaquil, through a selection process that began two years ago. “As a first stage, we had a presentation of the project that took place in October 2021, there each one chose a maximum of two works, from a previous artist and a young one,” he indicates. Britowho confirms that until then, they had a small group of applicants.

Later on, an “outline of what this exhibition would be” was made and at that time we already stated that the idea was to work with museum reserves and with other contemporary artists, so that we could generate constellations or expanded micro curatorships and that is what It is already happening today” affirms the Cuban who lives in Guayaquil.

In the second stage and now to specify the participating artists of the sample, Brito He says that everything was reduced to a survey of information on museum reserves and, at the same time, to identify among all the contemporary artists of the last 40 years who seemed to have a relevant pictorial portfolio, with works that have generated interest, openings and paths.

For the 49-year-old artist, this work represents a connection and identity with the memory of the city and the cultural history of Guayaquil, which is a heritage that has sometimes not been sufficiently valued because it has not been narrated and has not been visible. (AND)