Diana Guerrero-Maciá: The Devil’s Daughter is Getting Married

March 28—May 2, 2020


 

 

 

The Devil’s Daughter Is Getting Married is a sampled fragment of a Cuban folkloric idiom I often heard my parents tell me while growing up. “When the sun is shining and it’s raining, the Devil’s daughter is getting married.” It is one of many folk idioms describing a sun-shower.

 

It being a folk idiom is of less interest to me, rather that it describes conflicting conditions necessary of a sun- shower (and subsequent rainbow) –the rainbow appears when opposite forces meet – refraction of light through rain clouds.  This reminds me that all conditions are impermanent but a positive outcome can come from an otherwise dire condition.  Where opposing forces meet, the rainbow appears and forms an edge.  These are bright and hopeful works, through the complications, they are beautiful yet they are simple.”

 

Pre-exhibition studio view

 

Optimistic artwork for complicated times

 

“By what means and what way do I measure a life lived? Not by a category or a milestone, but the time spent in between. The quotidian moments that, slowly compiled over time make a life. These are paintings measuring decades.  Small moments, multiplied over years, folded into a single abstraction, holding time and recording its passage.

 

These paintings are collaged, pieced, dyed, and stitched as a reconsideration of the field and form. Constructed in parts from hand-dyed canvas & upcycled textiles -including handsewn cutter-quilts, US Army blankets, wool jackets, suits, & dresses -all deconstructed, flattened, & stitched by hand unto raw canvas. They began as uneventful drawings made without thinking much of why. The paintings emerged from these drawings, as their own outcome.

 

These paintings have their own outcomes, regardless of my intent. They are decades and cross-generational. Floating through aesthetics and genre-less. Let the outcomes be unknown.

 

They need a lot of room.  I am most interested in how they hold space and are looked at slowly. They are slow-blooming pieces, meant to unfold over a long time. The immediacy of the found materials are countered by the slow delicacy of making, balance of composition, and how the colors and shapes reveal themselves over time.

 

My studio practice engages material making that is meaningful. I consider craft a form of consciousness, and the decorative has work to do. Materiality is a meaning that is distinctive. I don’t question the materiality – it is implicit.

 

The work moves past disciplinary categorization to ask poetic questions about our life and times. I try to live the life I am making in the work and let my experiences as an artist lead me to new ways of seeing the world. My art asks questions, like poems, such as ‘Is a rainbow a picture?’, ‘Can symbols devour us?’ and’Can slowness blossom?’ Titles are used to point to the feeling, time, & place while leaving them open to interpretation.”

 

 

 

Rainbow Face, 2020. Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper, 16 x 13.5 inches

 

 

How hybridity in my studio practice relates to my lived-experience

 

“As a Latinx artist, hybridity was a learned experience while growing up. My Cuban immigrant parents taught me hand-work, material re-use, and improvisational “making-do”. A strategy to use and reuse material objects with a sustainable mindset based on an economic priority. The ethos has defined my studio practice for many years. Making the most with the least (small footprint, low-waste, low-impact, and fully supportive labor assistant practices).

 

My parents understood the need to balance the decorative with the utilitarian to resist subjugation and to build a world they wanted to live in. My mother, a professor of Spanish literature and an American Quilter’s Society multiple award winner, taught me how to sew. My father, an inventor and mechanical engineer, designed prototypes in his wood & metals workshop in our basement, and taught me how to build.

 

Exile was bewildering to my parents who practiced making objects and code-switching while I learned how to pass. I understand that consciously crafted objects will contain multitudes, hold ideas, and mark time & space.

 

As a young artist growing up in the 1970’s & 80’s, I was influenced by Modernism and the Arts & Crafts Movement. In my practice, I have deep appreciation for Modernist & Medieval painting. Having been educated in art in the 1980’s and early 1990’s. I have long been interested in collage-based painting that expand the field and challenge categories – such as the Pattern & Decoration movement, and artists who used craft & collage methods to challenge categorization of art, craft & design such as Sonia Delaunay, Hannah Höch, Sister Corita Kent, The Eames, Robert Rauschenberg, Louise Bourgeois, Blinky Palermo, Robert Kushner. So much work has been done, yet in 2020, we are still unpacking the legacies of Modernism and the implicit biases of maker and object. Hence, why I believe the decorative still has work to do.”

 

– Diana, March 2020.

 

Detail of Who Loves the Sun, 2020. Dye and vintage embroidery on canvas, 57.5 x 49.5 inches

Artwork

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
A Perfect Day

2020
Wool, dye, deconstructed clothing and rock on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 inches

USD $20,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
The Devil’s Daughter is Getting Married

2020
Wool, dye, deconstructed clothing and textiles on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 inches

USD $20,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Night Watch

2020
Wool and deconstructed clothing on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 inches

USD $20,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Italian Summer

2020
Wool, dye, linen and deconstructed clothing on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 inches

USD $20,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
The Let Down

2020
Wool and deconstructed clothing on canvas
57.5 x 98 inches

USD $25,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Who Loves the Sun

2020
Dye and vintage embroidery on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 in (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Sartorial Double Rainbow

2020
Wool, dye and deconstructed clothing on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 in (framed)

USD $20,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Born in the Sixties

2020
Wool, deconstructed clothing and vintage wooden pentagon toys on canvas
57.5 x 49.5 inches

USD $20,000.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Winter Rainbow

2020
Unique collage with wool and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
32.5 x 27 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Summer Window

2020
Unique collage with wool and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
32.5 x 27 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Sunshower

2020
Unique collage with wool and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
32.5 x 27 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Pillow Clouds

2020
Unique collage with wool and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
32.5 x 27 inches (framed)

USD $2,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Spring

2020
Unique collage with wool and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
32.5 x 27 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
RYB Forever

2020
Unique collage with wool and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
32.5 x 27 inches (framed)

USD $2,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Summer Window (another frame- small versions)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Winter Rainbow (small version)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 in (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Big Baby

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Big Smile

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
The Boy

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
A Cautionary Tale

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Sunny

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Spring (Flower Eyes-Small)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Ghost Flower

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Giant

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 in (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Beautiful Girl

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Time Tables

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Live Forever (small)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Pillow Clouds (Upholstered Grid -small version)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Devil’s Daughter

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 in (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Sunshower (small version)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 in (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Let Down

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Meyers Briggs

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Night Watch (small)

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Pom Poms

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Power Face Rainbow

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Power Curve Face

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Rainbow Face

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Staring at The Sun

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Still Here

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

Sold

Diana Guerrero-Maciá
Sunset Target

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00
Diana Guerrero-Maciá
This Way Sunrise,

2020
Unique collage with paint and archival inkjet print on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching paper
16 x 13.5 inches (framed)

USD $1,500.00

Installation Views

The Let Down: "Motherhood is the end of theory - What had been operating on the realm of the spiritual tier in Medieval paintings (triptychs) the eye to the top – comes down to the earth – flesh & blood. That moment when breastfeeding, out of a mother’s control and brings a moment of euphoria. The third eye incarnate. Marisol, Hans Memling, Louis Borgeouis, Hannah Hoch. 20th Century."
The Devil’s Daughter is Getting Married: “The index and the title bearer. It is most complicated but also entirely free & spontaneous. The bed, an upholstered grid. Robert Raushenberg, Paul Klee, Henri Matisse, Sarah Morris. Hybridity is inherent in the gestures – the bringing together – a moment of complication. 2010’s.”
A Perfect Day: “Coastal beach vibe - obstacles we must overcome – The rock tethers us to the world. There is no absolute. The present moment. Bright & hopeful. Calm before and after the storm. American quilt patch work, Barnett Newman, Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler. 2020’s.”
Night Watch: “Awake or asleep, in a sleep-state see the night rainbow. The thing is the object looking back at you. Mystical, The Cosmos, Enrico Baj, Jess, Lee Bontecou. 2000’s.”
Who Loves the Sun: “The KISS Principal (Keep it simple, stupid). Blinky Palermo, Lou Reed, and my mother’s handwork. Often covered, reinvented but never lost. An edge of meeting – confounding space/ illusion. 1970’s.”
Sartorial Double Rainbow: “Intimate, yet archetypical and perfectly suited. A frame, a window, and a void, all at once. The well dressed-grid. Katherine Hepburn, Kazimir Malevich, Anni Albers, Jasper Johns, Jackie Windsor. 1990’s.”
Born in the Sixties: “The controversial yet optimistic ideologies of the sixties. Sister Corita Kent, Buckminster Fuller - The central placement of the Virgin in Spanish Colonial paintings. A symbol becoming a physical thing in the world. 1960’s.”
Italian Summer: “The classicism of the Western canon studied & revisited, an Aperol or Campari spritz. Rome. Post-Modernism. Elegant, timeless, and somewhat sporty. Classical geometry of a black & white tiled floor - Neo-classicism, Super-graphic pop. The death of painting, signage and design rules the world. 1980’s.”
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Video

Video

"Who Loves the Sun" by Diana Guerrero-Maciá

"A Perfect Day" by Diana Guerrero-Maciá

Diana Guerrero-Maciá + Lisa Wainwright in conversation