Gustavo López Armentía

New Mixed Media Paintings, Bas Reliefs & Sculptures

November 3 - December 22, 2007
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                Mundo de todos            Mixed Media Bas Relief            Dish: 71” x 71" x 8 ” - Knife 73" x 7" x 3" - Fork 71" x 10" x 6"            

New York, N.Y. (October 2007) Reece Galleries, celebrating its 38th Anniversary, is proud to announce its 11th one-person exhibition for Gustavo Lopez Armentia, one of Argentina’s most notable contemporary artists.  Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1949, Lopez Armentia began painting at the age of 5 and is entirely self taught. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, he gained international recognition by exhibiting extensively throughout South America and Europe and has represented his country at several worldwide Invitationals, including the 1997 Venice Biennale.  He has won many awards and his works are in the permanent collections of museums in Latin America and other countries. The Museum of Fine Arts in Buenos Aires has held 2 major solo exhibitions for Lopez Armentia.

This exhibition will feature the unique medium invented and introduced by Lopez Armentia in 1998.  He pours a mixture of marble dust, quartz powder, cement, gesso and other elements into a mold, then casts it and while it is still wet he draws, paints and sculpts into it, sometimes incorporating found objects and photo transfers. He then incises into it after it has dried. This medium was formulated by the artist for its ability to further his particular narrative of dreams, travel and immigration, and the individual's connective alliance with the world’s inhabitants, regardless of geography or nationality.   These new multi-dimensional paintings and sculptures are cultural perceptions which, in the artist's own words,  “... are not the projection of reality, but rather an internal truth that struggles between the rational and the heartfelt.”     

“Gustavo López Armentía looks for a harmony between the ephemeral and the lasting within that minimum
expression of the present which is the everyday, relieving day-to-day life from its monotony and routine and introducing the essence of dreams and the substance of desire into its folds and crevices.”

-- Jorge Glusberg, Director, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de Buenos Aires, Argentina   

The Reception, with the artist in attendance, will be held at the gallery November 10, 2007, from 2:30-5:00pm.

Shirley I. Reece, President               sireece@reecegalleries.com

24 West 57th Street       New York, NY 10019      tel 212.333.5830      fax 212.333.7366       www.reecegalleries.com