A N A M E R C E D E S H O Y O S

NOVEMBER 18 - DECEMBER 18, 1993

A N A M E R C E D E S H O Y O S

Y O S H I I G A L L E R Y

NEW PAINTINGS

1. DRUM

After seeing the newest body of work by Ana Mercedes Hoyos, can one ever

again look at a drum without wishing ¡t were orange? Without wishing ií were

bigger? And shaped as boldly as ¡t sounds? And who ever saw a knife with a

pink handle? Not the usual passive handle ¡oined to an energetk blade, this

knife ¡s a harmonious whole, a powerful shape be ¡I thrust inlo a platter of fruit

or seen by itself in a canvas that echoes ils lines.

The drum, the knife, the fruit, the ruffled skirts of the girls, all belong to the

life of San Brasilio de Palenque, a village near Cartagena, Colombia, which

was the last refuge for freed and escaped slaves. In this seríes Ana Mercedes

Hoyos, who hal photographed and painted the women of Palenque for more

than six years, decided to move in very cióse. No longer do we see a full

parade, but in one painting two magnificent drums almost totally blocking ouí

the drummers who carry them. In another there are the ruffled skirts, brown

legs, and shoes and socks of dressed-up young women who have gathered to

watch the festivities.

The still-lifes all include the pink handled knife, variously cropped by pieces of

fruit, and important both compositionally and psychologically. In the narrow

vertical picture where the knife is ¡solated, Hoyos crops the blade to heighten

the visual tensión.

These close-ups are an important new step ¡n Hoyos’s continuing Palenque

series. She chooses her sub¡ects intuitively, her cropping is bolder, more

dramatic, and her color is simple and superb. By now there ¡s no doubt that

Hoyos can make a good painting. In this series she adds dimensionality and

deepens her communication of the spirit that enlivens these extraordinary

women.

— Anne Horton, 1993

2. UNTITLED

3. UNTITLED

PINK KNIFE

4. UNTITLED (Pink Knife I)

5. UNTITLED (Pink Knife II)

6. UNTITLED (Pink Knife III)

7. UNTITLED (Pink Knife IV)

8. UNTITLED (Pink Knife V)

For me, the discovery of one pink knife became a great revelation for my

work. I had always been interested in the knife as a symbol. I had thought of

the knife as full of meaning and the best way to ¡Ilústrate the reality of my

country, Colombia. I had always found it in biack and painted it that way,

always present as an integral part of my work. Then, on one of my trips

to Cartagena, I saw a knife with a pink handle. I sensed the importante of

this sign, and I began to think of ¡t as an isolated object. I took it out of the

compositions and painted ¡t by itself. The knife btade still means the same —

vioience, bloodshed, and rupíure, but this symbol now has a different meaning.

The pink can mean redemption and the possibility of changing Colombia’s

reality. Such a reality could embrace the ¡mportance of an isolated culture such

as that of Palenque, a town founded by íhe descendants of African slaves and

to which I pay tribute in my paintings of its ¡nhabitants.

— Ana Mercedes Hoyos, 1993

9. UNTITLED (Pink Knife)

10. UNTITLED (Watermelon VIII)

11. UNTITLED (Watermelon IV)

12. UNTITLED (Watermelon V)

I. DRUM1993Oil on corvos47’A x47’/4¡n, 120 x 120 cmYG No. AMH-93001

2. UNTITLED1993Oil on convas49 V. x98’/2¡n, 125x250cmYG No. AMH-93002

3. UNTITLED1993Oil on canvas39% x39%in, 100 x 100 cmYG No. AMH-93003

4. UNTITLED (Pink Knife l)1993Oil on canvas39% x39% ¡n, 100 x 100 cmYG No. AMH-93004

5. UNTITLED (Pink Knife ll)1993Oil on canvas39% x393A in, 100 x 100 cmYG No. AMH-93005

ó. UNTITLED (Pink Knife III)1993Oil on canvas39% x39%in, 100 x 100 cmYG No. AMH-93006

7. UNTITLED (Pink Knife IV)1993O!l on convos393A x 39% in, 100 x 100 cmYG No. AMH-93007

8. UNTITLED (Pink Knife V)1993Oil on canvas393A x 393/» in, 100 x 100 cmYG No. AMH-93008

9. UNTITLED (Pink Knife)1993Oil on canvas193/« x 94’/2¡n, 50x240 cmYG No. AMH-93009

10. UNTITLED (Watermelon Ill)1993Oil on canvas193/a x94’/2¡n, 50x240cmYG No. AMH-93012

11. UNTITLED (Watermelon IV)1993Oil on canvas193A x 94 Vzin, 50x240 cmYGNo. AMH-93013

12. UNTITLED (Watermelon V)1993Oil on canvas193/<x 193Ain, 50x50cmYG No. AMH-93014

CATALOGUE

ANA MERCEDES HOYOS

Born 1942 Bogotá, ColombiaLives and works ¡n Bogotá and New York

Education1961-65 Facultad de Bellas Artes, Universidad Nacional de Colombia The School of Fine Arts at the University of Los Andes

Selected Solo Exhibitions1993 Colombian Consulate, New York, New York, Works on Paper Museo Rayo, Roldanillo, Colombia, Exhibition of Graphic Arts Galería Ramis F. Barquet, Monterrey, México Galeria Fernando Quintana, Bogotá, Colombia, 1981-19881992 Galeria El Museo, Bogotá, Colombia, Symbols o! America1991 Galeria Época, Santiago, Chile, Oils and Drawings Rempire Gallery, New York, New York1990 Seymour Berger Center for the Arts, long Island, New York, Drawings and Prints Rempire Gallery, New York, New York, The Final Touch1988 Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia1987 Galeria Alfred Wild, Bogotá, Colombia, Still Lifes of Palenque1986 National Press Club, Washington D.C., Journey1985 Galeria Confamiliar, Barranquilla, Colombia, Sunflowers and Rainbow1984 Galeria Garces Velasquez, Bogotá, Colombia Fíeld of Sunflowers (Homage to Van Gogh)1981 Centro Colombo-Americano, Bogotá, Colombia, Ana Mercedes Hoyos: A Decade1980 Galeria Cóndor, Barranquilla, Colombia, Rainbow and Landscape Panamanian Institute of Art, Panamá City, Panamá1979 La Galeria, Buenos Aires, Argentina Galeria Belarca, Bogotá, Colombia1978 Galeria San Diego, Bogotá, Colombia, A Process Eugenio Mendoza Foundation, Caracas, Venezuela1976 Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia, Paintings and Drawings 1974-761974 Galeria Belarca, Bogotá, Colombia, Windows

Selected Group Exhibitions1992 Expo Sevilla 92, Seville, Spain, Colombian Contemporary Art Galeria Alfred Wild, Bogotá, Colombia1991 Museum of Modern Art, Cali, Colombia, Three Colombian Artists — Small Formal Colombian Center, Permanent Mission of Colombia to the United Nations, New York, New York, Painting1990 Fuji Museum of Tokyo, Japan, Colombian Art1989 Galeria Alfred Wild, Bogotá, Colombia, Women Artists Rempire Gallery, New York, New York, Exhibition of Contemporary Colombian Art1986 MOCHA, New York, New York, Abstract Vision1985 Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia, One Hundred Years of Colombian Art Santillana Foundation, Santillana del Mar, Spain, A Vision of Colombia XXVIII International Biennial of Sao Paulo, Brazil1984 National Anthropological Museum, México City, México, Colombia, Half a Century of Painting and Sculpture 1st Biennial of Havana, Cuba1983 Palacio De Bellas Artes, México City, México, Colombian Paintings, Cultural Agenda on Colombia School of Fine Arts, Paris, France, Art From the Workshops, Art From the Street1982 Center for ínter American Relations of New York, New York, Women of the Americas: Emerging Perspectivas Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia, Colombian Art From the Sixties Colombian Embassy, Bonn, Germany, Contemporary Colombian Graphics1981 IV Biennial Art Exhibiton of Medellin, Medellin, Colombia National Art Gallery, Caracas, Venezuela, El Paisaje Libérrimo Galeria Santa Fe, Bogotá, Colombia, Inaugural Exhibition1980 Galería San Diego, Bogotá, Colombia, Canvases From Five Artists La Fundación Miró, Barcelona, Spain, Premio Dibujo Miro1979 Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, Japan, XI International Biennial Biblioteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia, Prints and Drawings of Colombia II Biennial Painting Exhibition, Cagnes-Sur-Mer, France

1978 Museum of Modern Art, Rio de Janeiro, Art Now Ill/Lalin America: Sensible Ceometry International Monetary Fund of Washington, Washington, D.C., New Artists of Colombia1977 Bogotá National Museum, Bogotá, Colombia, New People of the World X París Biennial, Paris, France1975 Bogotá Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia, 1900-1975 Landscape1972 House of the Americas, Havana, Cuba, Biennial Exhibition Institute of Latín American Art, Santiago, Chile1971 Bibloteca Luis Ángel Arango, Bogotá, Colombia, Graphic Artists oí Colombia1970 Museo La Tertulia, Cali, Colombia, Salon of the Americas Galeria Belarca, Bogotá, Colombia, Erotic Art1968 Museum of Modern Art, Bogotá, Colombia, Envíronmental Spaces Galeria Marta Traba, Bogotá, Colombia, Los que Son1966 Galeria Goya, Bogotá, Colombia

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