13 May – 24 June 2006
Selected works from The University of Essex Collection of Latin American Art (UECLAA)

Large-scale works on paper by Latin American artist’s Uiara Bartira and Monica Sartori will be on show at firstsite alongside the work of Brigida Baltar at firstsite.

This is the second spotlight exhibition selected from the University of Essex’s Collection of Latin American Art (UECLAA) to be exhibited at firstsite.

Bartira and Sartori’s works have been chosen as complimentary to Baltar’s practice. As in Baltar’s exhibition both works investigate the physical processes of drawing and etching, as well as the virtual spaces produced by these as image. Drawn lines are used to collect and capture abstract sensations such as limitless space, the passing of time and the experience of flight.

Bartira’s diptych, Microcosmo (Microcosm), explores how our sense of space is altered depending on how we interpret the scale and proximity of an abstract image.

In her two drawings, Sartori alternates between charcoal, graphite and china ink. Individual lines emphasise the qualities of each medium and the large scale of the paper makes the usually diminutive gesture of drawing more akin to an expressively painted brush stroke.

firstsite and UECLAA are currently working in partnership to present exhibitions by contemporary Latin American artists, which can be contextualised alongside works from the collection.

Artwork details:

Monica Sartori:

 

Untitled, 1989

Charcoal and ink on paper, 150x220 cm

Ponta de asa de anjo (Tip of an angel’s wing), 1993

Graphite on paper, 100x216cm

Uiara Bartira:

Microcosmo (Microcosm), 1987

Soft ground and etching on paper, diptych, each 107x76cm