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Bodies and Spirals

B o d i e s a n d S p i r a l s

Embassy of ChileCultural Department

Washington, D.C. November 22 - January 13

2011

CULTURAL DEPARTMENT

Cultural Attaché, Nicolás BärAssistant, Álvaro Bustamante

DESIGN, EDITION AND PRODUCTION

Cultural Department, Embassy of Chile

PHOTOGRAPHY

Patricia Novoa

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Directorate for Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Cristina Montero and Eduardo Rojas

Printed in the United States

CoverDIVERTIMENTO (partial view)Oil on canvas55x70in 2011

BODIES AND SPIRALS

Behind a big part of the artistic and musical works of the history of art, there is a relation with geometry. It inspires, gives cohesion and hierarchy. Here we find an aim for order that lies beneath the subconscious, common to all human beings, today and yesterday. During the Renaissance, in Egypt, in contemporary art, in primitive cultures, in the child that draws the sun with a circle, in the solemnity of worship places.

Picasso sustains it, ironically, “Don’t look for interpretations in Guernica. It is only a bullfight in a basement, united by a triangle and a light bulb”.

During a trip I made to India and Nepal a surrounding, powerful, geometric form was fixed in my eyes and memory, present in sculptures, images, music and architecture. This was the spiral, that is born wide, swallowing all that exists like a flowing river or a snake, that later stirs in itself to compress in slimmer forms, become minimal, to gradually grow bigger like it was before, in an unstoppable movement that forms a wavy surface; a chaotic order of universe in a one of a kind swirl of life and energy.

Mario Toral

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Mario Toral, Chilean artist. Painter, printmaker, illustrator and writer. He studied in the Escuela de Bellas Artes in Montevideo, Uruguay, and under Henry-Georges Adam in Paris. While living in Paris from 1950 to 1962, he familiarized himself with techniques of drawing and printmaking.

On his return to Chile in 1962, he taught at the Escuela de Artes of Universidad Católica in Santiago until 1972, when he established himself in New York. He returns to Chile in 1995 to create the Art School of Universidad Finis Terrae, being its Dean for 15 years. Currently, he is devoted exclusively to his art and writing, sharing his time between New York and Santiago.

Toral has illustrated over 40 books of poets and writers, especially those of the Chilean Nobel laureate, poet Pablo Neruda. Among his literary works, his stories have been published in the United States, Sweden and France. In 1997 he published the book Tanai y el Resplandor de Eros, about his life experiences linked to some major works of art, and in 2010, Toarl en el País de las Maravillas, a combination of literary texts and pictorical images reflecting his personal vision of the world.

He is renowned for his numerous murals; the most important one, Memorial Visual de una Nación in Santiago, Chile. This project was filmed for a documentary that won the Gran Premio in the Bienal de Cine Latinoamericano in Trieste, Italy in 2002.

In 1980, Mario Toral was awarded the Guggenheim Prize in the United States. He was artist in residence at Fordham University, New York, and in 1988, Thomas Messer, Director of the Guggenheim Museum, selected Toral to represent Chile in the Art Olympics in Seul, Korea. His paintings are exhibited in the most important Museums, such as the Metropolitan Art Museum, MOMA and the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the Art Museum of Texas University, Texas, the Art Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana, and in private collections.

Toral has carried out numerous collective and individual expositions in Chile and all over the world: Brazil, France, Argentina, United States, Yugoslavia, Spain, El Salvador, Colombia, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Canada and Australia, among others.

Since his first works, Mario Toral represents the human body in different forms: naked, transmuted,

Mario Toral’s watercolors are at the same time both extremely delicate and extremely strong. Though his palette is soft as the mist, his images are inscrutable. Never before there have been such delicate but unmerciful paintings at the Fendrick Gallery. Paul Richard, The Washington Post

Toral’s art brings us wide range of thoughts and feelings, fantasies and existential mystery. Elaine Johnson, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York

Toral puts a spell on us with his masterful techniques and with his particular images that mix human forms with birds in landscapes that belong to other worlds. David L. Shirey, The New York Times

Toral transforms his own transformation, shapes his forms, expands his latitude. Toral explores the unknown universe that haunts us from the high towers. The Eyes of the sea that there were left after the highest tide. Pablo Neruda, Chilean Nobel Laureate

disintegrated or diaphanous, in a personal language that speaks of his own experience and emotions. The historic aspects stand out in his refined work. The human drama as the protagonist, is manifested even in images where the figure is not physically present. The work of Toral sometimes is shaken, rocked, buffeted by emotions, by sudden terrors, by acid criticism, and in others, a tense peace takes hold of the scene and offers a breath of trust, hope, that makes us think that the world is still a beautiful place.

For the Embassy of Chile it is a privilege to host Mario Toral´s work. He is an outstanding Chilean artist with a remarkable international career, and significantly enough, his first exhibit in the United States took place in this capital almost 4 decades ago, at the Fendrick Gallery in Georgetown.

The exhibit Bodies and Spirals –which includes 8 paintings of a recent compact series whose inspiration lies in a trip that the artist made to India- is the sixth and last of its kind being presented at the Art Room of the Embassy this year. This is part of an exciting program of cultural exhibitions prepared by our Cultural Department.

The relationship between Chile and the United States is currently at an excellent, if not its best, historical moment. Some recent milestones are the visit of President Obama to Chile in March 2011, the relevant participation of the United States in the rescue of the miners in Atacama in 2010, the remarkable increase in the commercial exchange of this year, the two visits of President Piñera to the United States, and the upcoming subscription of the Chile-Massachusetts Agreement, among others.

Cultural expressions are part of these challenges, and they play a crucial role in projecting the image of our nation worldwide, endeavor that Mario Toral’s exhibit intends to achieve.

Arturo FermandoisAmbassador of Chile

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BODIES IN DARK SPACEOil on canvas

68x91in 2011

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ANIMALS AND FACESOil on canvas

69x89in 2011

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DIVERTIMENTOOil on canvas

55x70in2011

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FACE AND BLUE STONESOil on canvas

58x91in 2011

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FACES AND FEATHERSOil on canvas

69x89in 2011

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LONELY WOMANOil on canvas

71x59in 2011

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GOLDEN OBJECTS AND TWO NAKED BODIESOil on canvas

55x71in2011

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WOMAN WITH HAIR STYLEOil on canvas

47x71in 2011

Embassy of Chile, Cultural DepartmentWashington, D.C.

2011

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Embassy of ChileCultural Department