Tere Arcq on Remedios Varo
THIS WEEK on the GWA Podcast, for the very special 100th EPISODE, we interview\xa0art historian and leading curator of Surrealist and feminist art in Mexico and beyond, Tere Arcq on REMEDIOS VARO! \n\nBorn in Spain, and raised in a strict Catholic schooling \u2013 from which she rebelled \u2013 Varo, in 1937, moved to Paris to join the Surrealists. After the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and unable to return to her home country, Varo, by 1941, escaped to Mexico. It was here where she found refuge, befriending the likes of Leonora Carrington and Kati Horna, and made the most extraordinary and meticulous paintings.\n\nOften exploring alchemy and magic, her paintings tend to focus on a single, isolated figure in an otherworldly realm. With striking features \u2013 allegedly based on her own looks \u2013 her protagonists, often female, appear like hybridised creatures. One of my favorites is (image 1) \u2013 The Call, from 1961, presents a woman, holding a pestle and mortar, walking through a corridor of tree-like figures who meditavely loom by the side, emphasising the sounds of silence, an aura of mystery, and the idea of practising something in secret!\n\nWhenever I see a painting by Remedios Varo, I feel transfixed by their mystical and metaphysical atmosphere. They are meticulously rendered - almost renaissance-like - works of these women who seem to be trapped in towers, on a quest to reach a higher state of consciousness or living in another surrealist world. They are at once haunting, mesmeric, glowing and magical.\n\nA professor in art history based in Mexico City, Tere Arcq has been the Chief Curator of the Museum of Modern Art in Mexico and has curated exhibitions on women surrealists around the world. In 2012 she curated In Wonderland: The Adventures of Women Surrealists LACMA in addition to exhibitions at the National Museum of Fine Arts in Quebec and here in the UK where she was a co-curator of the 2010 exhibition Surreal Friends: Leonora Carrington, Remedios Varo and Kati Horna at Pallant House gallery.\n\nWith more curatorial projects in the pipeline, very excitingly, Tere is a co-curator of the upcoming retrospective at the Chicago Art Institute for summer 2023 on the artist we are very excitingly talking about today, the Surrealist Remedios Varo.\xa0\n\n--\n2021 New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/obituaries/remedios-varo-overlooked.html\xa0\n\nNMWA biography: https://nmwa.org/art/artists/remedios-varo/\xa0\n\n2000 New York Times on her scientific interest: https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/11/science/scientific-epiphanies-celebrated-on-canvas.html\xa0\n\nArtnews: https://www.artnews.com/feature/who-is-remedios-varo-and-why-is-she-important-1234574762/\xa0\n\nWebsite with all her works: https://totallyhistory.com/remedios-varo-paintings/ \n\nGuardian review of Pallant House exhibitions Surreal Friends with Leonora Carrington and Kati Horna https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/jun/18/surrealist-muses-who-roared-mexico \n\nEyes on the table (1938)\xa0https://totallyhistory.com/remedios-varo-paintings/ \n\nHarmony (1956)https://usaartnews.com/auctions/the-mystical-scene-by-spanish-surrealist-remedios-varo-set-a-world-record \n\nThe Juggler (The Magician), (1956)https://www.moma.org/collection/works/291307\xa0Audio guide: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/296/3792 \n\nCelestial Pablum (1958)\nhttps://brooklynrail.org/2017/10/criticspage/Hidden-Figures\xa0\n\nTriptych: Towards the Tower (1961) Embroidering the Earth\u2019s Mantle (1961) The Escape (1962)https://www.gallerywendinorris.com/artists-collection/remedios-varo\xa0https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/24/obituaries/remedios-varo-overlooked.html \n\n--\n\nENJOY!\n\nFollow us:\nKaty Hessel: @thegreatwomenartists / @katy.hessel\nResearch assistant: Viva Ruggi\nSound editing by Nada Smiljanic\nArtwork by @thisisaliceskinner\nMusic by Ben Wetherfield\n\nhttps://www.thegreatwomenartists.com/\n\n--\n\nTHIS EPISODE IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY CHRISTIES: www.christies.com