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Amalia Amoedo: Vestales
By Milagros Bello
Amalia Amoedo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1976. She studied with such prestigious masters as Marcia Schwartz, Miguel Harte and Nicola Costantino and studied the history of art with Laura Batkis, developing her artistic career in painting, sculpture and installation. She has developed a strong contemporary approach to art in which she breaks through tradition and sets herself into post-modern practices.
Amoedo’s paintings emphasize an anti-aesthetic approach in the style of the German neo-expressionists and anti-modern European “bad” painting. Bright and contrasting colors are created by smooth layers of paint overlapped by fabrics and other mixed-media and collage elements. Astrological signs blend with strong brushstrokes, creating a complex amalgam of textures and traces. A cultivated eye perceives the strong emotional resonances and intense existential echoes that emanate from the works. In her sculptures, Amoedo goes for a lighter timbre, but not less meaningful. Playful and lighthearted objects re-create her experiences of the world; a series of small houses adorned with materials such as paper money replicas, worry dolls or even astrological charts created by famous artists express her lively contemporary spirit.
“Vestales” installation view at Curator’s Voice Art Projects.
Amoedo began to gain international recognition and participated in several group exhibitions, including shows in Latin America and the USA; at Belleza y Felicidad Gallery in Buenos Aires; at Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires; at Paradiso Gallery, José Ignacio, Uruguay, and the Argentine Consulate in New York. Amoedo has participated in numerous curated shows in Miami, including at Curator’s Voice Art Projects gallery in Wynwood. Some selected curated shows are “Beautified Objects,” curated by Dr. Milagros Bello during Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 (Nov. 29, 2014- Jan. 31, 2015); “Miami-Miami” (Feb. 14-March 14, 2015); “Things of Beauty” (March 21-April 11, 2015); and “The Softline” (April 18-May 16, 2015). She participated in Art Boca Raton 2016 in the show “Women in the Contemporary Arts,” curated by Bello.
In her show “Vestales” at Curator’s Voice Art Projects in Miami, she introduces 13 multicolored, tridimensional unicorns infused with magic and fairylike visuality as a means to reflect on the power of the feminine spirit and the essence of women.
Amoedo’s works propose archetypes that rise up to the collective unconscious. “Vestales” offers a deep vision of the arcane and mysterious powers of the Roman goddess of the earth Vesta as the goddess of the internal fire and heart of individuals. Iconic sculptures of unicorns composing a circle and a meandering locus work as metaphors for the transformational supremacy of the archetype and its sacred sites.
The show conveys multiple metaphorical meanings in which the artist combines mythological, astrological and philosophical axes: unicorns, zodiac signs and vestals represent concepts such as purity, love, healing and work as equivalent cultural symbols orienting the viewer to reflect on the ancestral powers of the icons and the cosmic elements they represent.
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Amalia Amoedo, Mourning You, 2014, mixed media on canvas. Photo: Luis Silva.
The show features 12 multicolored, tridimensional unicorns that also represent the 12 zodiac signs and their cosmic powers. They are arranged in the space in ritualistic dynamic combinations, some set on the ground, others in the walls, and still others are installed in the outdoor part of the gallery. All of them presenting the allure of vestals, which infuse the space with an essence of purity and virtuosity.
In the center of the exhibition stands a huge embroidered tent, and inside there is a gigantic unicorn imprisoned in a metal cage by intertwined chains and huge keys. In the body of the unicorn one can see and hear the beats of its heart, symbols of its vitality and thirst for freedom and liberation. This installation alludes to the unicorn in medieval tapestries, which is believed to represent tamed love and the union of marriage, as well as the more obvious condition of human imprisonment and limitation.
The 13 unicorns are presented as land creatures in a ceremonial compound showing their refinement and grace and poised with their horn, which was said to have the power to render poisoned water potable and heal sickness.
Amalia Amoedo, Money House, 2015, mixed media sculpture. Photo: Luis Silva.
The show’s title “Vestales” identifies the virgin vestals that maintained the fire in the temples of the Vesta goddess, or Aio Locucio, in Roman mythology. “Vestales” alludes to the feminine essence of humankind, the anima in Carl’s Jung’s terms, or by symbolic extension to the generating power of women. This show stretches the creative forces and invaluable energy of the feminine spirit and ultimate power of women in this world. Amoedo has a love of invention and wonder, generating daring and intrepid contemporary works that place her among the most interesting young artistic voices in Latin America.
Amoedo lives and works in Buenos Aires and is represented by Curator’s Voice Art Projects.
“Vestales” is on view from April 2 to June 4 at Curator’s Voice Art Projects. 299 NW 25th St., Miami, Fla 33127.
Milagros Bello, PhD is an art critic, writer and curator based in Miami. She is the chief curator and director of Curator’s Voice Art Projects.
