Hulda Guzmán (born 1984) is a Dominican figurative painter whose work often depicts tropical settings and naturalistic motifs. Her paintings often include elements of magical realism and dream-like environments.

Education

Hulda Guzmán was born in 1984 in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. She received a bachelor's degree from Altos de Chavón School of Design in the Dominican Republic, and a bachelor's degree in mural painting and photography from the National School of Visual Arts, Mexico.

Work

Guzmán works in acrylic gouache, her work is often compared to

Surrealism Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

and

pointillism Pointillism (, ) is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat and Paul Signac developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term "Pointillism ...

. She attributes

Rousseau Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher ('' philosophe''), writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects ...

and

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2,100 artwork ...

as inspirations as well as Mexican muralism, Dominican folk traditions, and Japanese

ukiyo-e is a genre of Japanese art that flourished from the 17th through 19th centuries. Its artists produced woodblock printing, woodblock prints and Nikuhitsu-ga, paintings of such subjects as female beauties; kabuki actors and sumo wrestlers; scenes ...

. Her studio is surrounded by wilderness and located in Lanza del Norte, Samaná. It was designed by her father, the architect Eddy Guzmán.

"I used to be a lot more interested in portraits and drawing in particular, especially drawings of the human figure, the contours of faces and anatomy in general. Now I'm more interested in landscapes and nature, but also how narrative and storytelling enter my work. I would say during the pandemic I really dived into portraying landscape. I found that contemplating nature and painting plants and trees helped me bring my attention back to the present moment. Nature diverted my mind from fear and anxiety."

Exhibitions (selection)

In 2023, Guzmán presented two solo shows in the United States and Europe. In ''Fabula'', organized by Von Bartha in Switzerland, the artist showcased a number of new paintings depicting house interiors, figure drawing paintings, and natural landscapes whereas at the Alexander Berggruen in New York City, the exhibition ''Hulda Guzmán: They come from water'' commented on

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and environmental threats to the historically disadvantage home town of Santo Domingo and the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

at large.

Collections

Her work is included the collections of many museums, including the

Pérez Art Museum Miami Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM)—officially known as the Jorge M. Pérez Art Museum of Miami-Dade County—is a contemporary art museum that relocated in 2013 to the Maurice A. Ferré Park in Downtown Miami, Florida. Founded in 1984 as the Cent ...

; the

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

; the

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) is a modern art, modern and contemporary art museum and nonprofit organization located in San Francisco, California. SFMOMA was the first museum on the West Coast devoted solely to 20th-century art ...

; Institute of Contemporary Art Miami; the Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, New York/Caracas; and Museu de Arte de São Paulo.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guzmán, Hulda 1984 births Living people Dominican Republic women painters 21st-century Dominican Republic women Contemporary artists Artists from Santo Domingo People from Samaná Province 21st-century Dominican Republic artists