Recent works by distinguished Argentinean  painter  Antonia Guzmán  are inspired by Giacomo Puccini’s last opera, Turandot.  Guzmán’s paintings convey the dynamic force of  Puccini’s Asiatic fairy tale using her well-known Latin American  visual vocabulary to create impactful visual dramas. The primary  inspiration for this series is Act II of the opera where the princess Turandot  asks three riddles of the Prince  Calaf who wishes to marry her under penalty of death if he cannot correctly  answer them all:

 “What is born each night and dies  each dawn?”  (answer: “Hope.”)

 “What flickers red and warm like a  flame, yet not fire?”   (answer:
  “Blood.”)

“What is like ice but burns?”  (answer:  “Turandot.”)     

 The paintings deliver Guzmán’s visual interpretation of these  riddles.

Using her familiar  geometrical visual vocabulary of stick figures with triangular  heads and sharp lines, while also inserting text in the work, she conveys this narrative with  movement and gravity, as though these paintings are part of this musical masterpiece, suggesting a  form of a performance art by Guzmán.

Antonia Guzmán’s bold and modulated palette distinctly refer to  colors  associated with Latin American painting: the lush reds, oranges and greens referring  to vibrant vegetation, the more planes distinguished by black and white lines, creating patterns resembling interlocking  blocks similar to design patterns found in Nazca textiles as well as Incan stone  buildings.
 
Her new exhibit opens at the Courturier Galley in June  
Gallery Hours: Tues – Sat, 11-5

  Couturier Gallery
  166  N. La Brea Ave.
  Los Angeles, CA 90036