From the Press Release:
GINA Gallery’s new exhibition, “The Apples of Our Eye: Naïve Art of the Americas”, includes newly-acquired artworks from North, Central and South America. Paintings of 60 artists from 15 countries will be on display.
Not surprisingly, the naïve art of these countries features all of the elements that characterize the genre: heartwarming colors and punctilious detail; childlike perspective and scale; refreshingly-innocent, easily-understandable, idealized scenes of everyday life; and all accomplished by a self-taught artist seeking to celebrate the human narrative.
The latter characteristic, however, by highlighting the contrasting cultures, traditions and histories of the various countries, results in artworks with remarkably different subjects and styles. While Canada’s naïve artworks highlight themes of nature, the family hearth and farming life, those from the USA emphasize rustic villages and the strait-laced dignity of peace-loving, church-going folks. Mexican naïve art captures the vital energy and spirit of the local people and markets, while that of Panama reflects the local tribal mores and dress.
While Mayan culture — Mother Earth and Mother Nature; religious ceremonies and superstitions; traditional clothing and textiles; and teeming markets –influenced the naïve artists of Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador; Incan culture — mythology, mysticism and strong community bonds — inspired the naïve artists of Ecuador (whose works concentrated on the country’s nature preserves, the difficult life in the Tiguan Mountains, and the superstitions surrounding the country’s venerable volcano, Cotopaxi, and its ever-present condors) as well as the naïve artists of Peru (whose works focused on the color and vigor of everyday life and ceremonial rituals along the terraced mountainsides of the Andes).
Brazil’s naïve art has been influenced by the huge country’s intermingling of many different cultures (European, African and Indigenous Indian), which have provided a fertile ground for artists of great originality, spontaneity, creativity, dynamism and emotion. In contrast, the naïve art of Argentina has been impacted by the waves of immigration to Argentina – primarily from Europe – during the past two centuries, resulting in artworks that meld European and other customs and traditions and portray the resonance of the city, the beat of the tango, the pulse of the pampas, and the silent beauty of Patagonia.
GINA Gallery is very proud and honored to host this remarkable exhibition, and to display these breathtaking works, which have enriched our lives and souls, and, in the process, have made the naïve world – and our world — a heart’s delight.
Moreover, the exhibition, and its celebration of the human narrative, will expand the viewers’ awareness and appreciation of Naive Art and will afford a welcome contrast to the chaotic life pervading the outside world, underscoring GINA Gallery’s belief that we are at the dawning of the age of naivism, a genre whose time has come.
