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GISELA
ROMERO
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Apartado
76156, Caracas 1070, Venezuela. E-mail: cocoloco@cantv.net Born in Caracas, Venezuela, in 1960 |
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Venezuelan Visual Artist whose
work is centered in the interrelation of opposites, in the necessary tension
between contraries.
Based on the phrases SOMETHING is the germ of the OTHER and to live is to live with others, her work constructs a weaving in which the black doesn't exist without the white, the empty without the full, the cold without the warm, today without yesterday and vice versa.
Her investigation is based
on the territory of dualities and the experimentation of the extremes. Her reflection
is generated from the relations between different ideas and when combining images
and words they complement each other, they move away in a circular rhythm in
which questions and answers obtain balance.
Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Gisela Romero graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts, California, in 1985 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. In 1992 she received her Master of Fine Arts degree (Printmaking major) from Pratt Institute, New York. Romero also studied Literature at the "Universidad Central de Venezuela".
Since 1985,
Romero has been a professor in various cultural institutions in Venezuela. In
the 1980s also worked at the National Art Gallery in the Education Department
and at “El Diario de Caracas” newspaper where she had the opportunity of illustrating
political and social articles. Between 1996 and 1997 she was the Vice President
of the “Caracas Drawing Circle” and since 1993 Romero has been a member
of the Associated Graphic Artists of Venezuela, TAGA.
As a MFA candidate,
Romero was influenced by the Pattern and Decoration movement believing in raising
the status of decoration in contemporary art and giving a new level to woman-made
crafts. She participated in many group shows and in solo shows showing pieces
dealing with the nature of decoration and at the same time with the idea of
the tension between opposites. From 1993 to 1996 she produced the series “Between
Earth and Heaven”, “Systems” and “Contraries” using the circle and the square
as symbols of the struggle between extremes and the need for balance.
Since 1997
Romero has been interested in Feminist Art investigating the role of women in
Latin America and depicting in her work issues as the loss of virginity, the
forbidden sexuality and motherhood using dualities as the frame to deal with
lust and sanctity, women and men and desire and obligation.
In 2000 Romero
completed her first Artist’s Book in which she puts together poems and images
that represent the opposition between genders.
Romero has participated in Artists Groups, Biennials and Exhibitions representing her country and her work is represented in many private collections.
At the present
time besides producing her own works of art, she is teaching creative writing
and experimental printmaking, working as the editor of a newsletter for Acción
Solidaria, an AIDS Foundation.
In December
2000 Romero had a solo show in which she presented artworks with the idea of
pieces that come from the inside to the outside, the need to go to the center
in order to trespass dualities and find the essence, and in April 2001 had a
solo show with pieces that are the reverse of themselves in relation to the
phrase “It is the other way around”. She continues producing Artist’s
Books with images and words that deal with the tension between genders.
Romero lives
and works in Caracas.