Painter and architect, Yudy Márquez was born in Caracas in 1956, and she is currently living in Mérida, Venezuela. From an early age she was attracted to painting and drawing. However, a personal highlight for her was the birth of her son, whose room she set with childish figures in bright colors to stimulate him. What until then had been only a pleasant activity, began to take shape as a tool of enriching expression. She definitely turned to painting, reconciling other aesthetic levels in the images.
Without stopping painting at any time, she studied architecture at the Universidad de los Andes, where she graduated in 1987. After finishing her studies, she decided to show her work. Since then, 30 years have passed, and she has continued to dedicate herself to her work as an artist. Yudy states, “I have not studied painting, but I have been using brushes since my childhood”, a statement that reflects her sensibility towards art, which although in her beginnings has a self-taught factor, complements the training she had in architecture, in art history and other technical explorations. This background revealed an inexhaustible source of knowledge, which, added to the disciplined dedication to the trade, opened a myriad of artistic associations that allowed her to give life to her own imaginary universe.
In Yudy’s artistic proposal, the woman has an important place as a maternal bond and protector of the home and the earth. In the intimate scenes, she dwells on everyday situations and ceremonial acts of the different stages of life, such as family portraits, christening, communion, marriage, birth. In completely allegorical compositions, the characters and the Nature have a leading force, showing themselves “absorbed in parallel worlds between the possible and the impossible, the real and the unreal.” The figures have physiognomic features with pronounced cheekbones, hovering eyes, and a canon of stout, plump proportions. The surfaces stand out due to the highly contrasted color combinations, the fruitfulness of the textile prints and the decorated environments. In the design of the composition there is a horror vacui, an encompassing of the entire support, like the rainforest.
For Yudy, her work originates from children’s representations because her language includes fictional and playful elements, which allow her to enter a “particular and magical world (…), a world of fantastic theatrical scenes full of symbolism, anecdotes, fables, experiences and emotions that invite the viewer to look beyond the material reality that surrounds us”. The treatment of the image is characteristic of illustration and popular art, but in it, the influence of the surrealism is also distinguished, and especially magical realism, with which the artist feels identified. Magical realism in Spanish-American painting rescues the hybrid cultural heritage, and the unmistakable primitive and magical character of the local cosmogony.
In this apparently irreconcilable relationship between simplicity and fiction, an indecipherable quality is perceived, hidden by the poetic invoice of the painting. The sensitive gaze of the artist achieves a happy descriptive and symbolic efficacy. With a subtle construction of her images bring to light the divine mystery that holds the affections and feelings.
Anny Bello
Feature Video Artist
Artworks
CV
1991
→ Instituto Autónomo Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
2006
→ Instituto Autónomo Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela.
2007
→ “Ruta del arte”. Casa de la Cultura, Tovar, Mérida, Venezuela.
→ “Mundos paralelos”. Azularte Galería, Caracas, Venezuela.
2011
→ “Villalón: between landscapes and urbanism”. Atlanta, USA.
1989
→ II Bienal Nacional Salvador Valero, Trujillo, Venezuela.
1996
→ “Eugenio Hermoso”. Consejería de Cultura y Patrimonio, Extremadura, España.
→ “La mujer en el arte”. Día Internacional de la Mujer, Nueva Acrópolis, Madrid, España.
2001
→ “Nacimiento”. Galería Artesanía, Valencia, Venezuela.
2012
→ “Nacimiento”. Galería Artesanía, Valencia, Venezuela.
2015
→ “Mi yo Frida”. Galería Sepia, Caracas, Venezuela.
2016
→“Mi yo Frida”. Galería Sepia, Caracas, Venezuela.