Solo exhibition of the mexican artist Astrid Sommer, curated by Conchi Alvarez

Dates: 8th of  October-22nd of December, 2017 (extended until 23rd of January 2018)

It is the second solo exhibition at STOA for the Mexican artist Astrid Sommer. “Single Word” is the logical continuation of “Pareidolia”, exhibition that took place more than a year ago. This time there are 12 works of art, 6 of which are recent creations and 6 that have been previously exposed. In all the works, performed in acrylic on canvas, they display a torrent of spontaneity, vibrant color, and beautiful plasticity, which are the basis of her paintings.

The titles of the new works represent concepts and those of the 3 previously exposed, are traditional names of Mexican women. All of them of concise denomination, of a single word. They are large pieces, of an abstraction dominated by light, color and a formally harmonic expressionism. The forms oscillate from seemingly spontaneous strokes of meaning, to features that shape knowable forms, as part of the world of figuration (“Clementine”, “Bartola” and “Domitila”). In fact, most of the canvases display certain signs which, as Eliot said, “they do not have to describe, but, like their essence, they condense an entire emotional complex.” Characters that could be symbols representing, perhaps,   memories, feelings, longings… or chained forms, born from the subconscious, away from the thoughts, as a result of the worries, which is the one that “renews the creative faculty” (Odilon Redon). For this reason, the contemplation of the works of Astrid invites to the evasion of the reality, to be carried away by the dream, creating a path inverse to the one that she made. But in that journey, from the certainty that her work is born from sincerity and authenticity, we must follow the advice of J. Plazaola, and proceed to remove our prejudices, expand the field of taste, arrive at the “loss of I “, and try to enjoy each and every one of her works of art.