In response to the confinement imposed by the virus, Guagnini developed a series of profile view drawings of figures emitting air.
The virus is handled as discourse, as infection and as an aesthetic element. Walden presented the first paintings from this series at Art Basel’s OVR in 2020. The artist expanded four of these figures into large format with the theme of the four seasons, inadvertently foreshadowing the pandemic’s endemic nature. The monumental, porous figures evoke the metaphysical work of Roberto Aisenberg, who was Guagnini’s friend and mentor, in addition to keys in Uruguayan modernist Maria Freire’s work. By means of collaboration with the Alto Liso studio in Guadalajara, Mexico, Guagnini converts his paintings into extremely sophisticated tapestries.
Nicolás Guagnini 
walden naturae
The studio brought techniques found in Europe at the Manufacture Royale des Gobelins in France into the mid-twentieth century, and into the reality of the state of Jalisco, with centuries of indigenous tradition in textiles. Commercially unavailable colors and shades are achieved by dying the wool; weavers work jointly with the artist on the design and its interpretation. This results in unique pieces, where lavish materials and visual potency engage to metabolize a traumatic event.
Drawings from the same series round out the exhibition, as do three ceramic pieces, in accordance with the artist’s interest in craft techniques. Two of these pieces were recently exhibited in Buenos Aries at MALBA, in the framework of the “Terapia” (Therapy) show, which examined the influence of psychoanalysis in Argentinean Art.
About walden naturae
The gallery has an annual program that combines historical and contemporary exhibitions in all disciplines and media, in its own space of 500 m2. Surrounded by hills, olive trees, vines and close to the ocean, it activates and cultivates its unique environment with agricultural, ecological and artistic initiatives, creating an idyllic context. walden naturae is the new project of Ricardo Ocampo, director and founder of waldengallery in Buenos Aires, a leading gallery in the national and regional art market.
