Plastic expression of Ecuadorian diversity

A new exhibition "Three Ecuadorian artists" will open in the CAF galleries next Thursday October 5. Result of the joint efforts of CAF and the Ecuadorian embassy, the exhibition will present the diversity of the country’s plastic art from the hands of three women from three cities, three landscapes and three climates, The exhibitors are Pilar Bustos of Quito, Victoria Carrasco of Cuenca, and Patricia León of Guayaquil.

(Caracas, October 3, 2006). As expression of the intention of the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) to open the spaces of its gallery to the excellence of the artistic creativity of the countries of the region, the Corporation has joined forces on this occasion with the Ecuadorian embassy in Venezuela to present the diversity of the plastic art of that country, from the hands of three women from three cities, three landscapes and three climates.

"They are the works of Pilar Bustos of Quito, Victoria Carrasco of Cuenca, and Patricia León of Guayaquil” explained Ana Mercedes Botero, head of the CAF External Relations Office. "They are three creators who demonstrate a particular creative intensity expressed in different languages, materials and techniques, exalting the richness of Ecuador, partner country of our institution, with a generous nature and territory of varied horizons, whose name is an emblem of the planet," she said.

Ecuadorian ambassador in Caracas Francisco Suéscum said, "The main objective of our country’s international policy agenda is to strengthen and promote our culture in its most diverse expressions. In this context, Ecuador’s diverse and ancient cultural heritage favors the overseas dissemination of the infinite expressions that compose the material and spiritual legacy of a nation."

The creators The Ecuadorian artists whose works can be enjoyed by visitors to the CAF gallery are Victoria Carrasco who began her artistic education at the Cuenca Fine Arts Academy in 1961. She later traveled to Europe and took courses in art in Belgium, copper enameling in Germany, textiles in the Czech Republic, and art in Italy.

With her strong teaching vocation, she has been permanent and guest professor in important universities such as the Morehead State University, USA; vice dean of the Arts Faculty of the Central University of Ecuador; visiting professor at Oklahoma University, USA; dean of the Arts Faculty of the University of Ecuador; visiting professor at the University of Barcelona, Spain; and professor in the Arts Faculty in the Central University of Ecuador, where she currently teaches.

She began her exhibition activity in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London in 1974, continued in the United States in 1997 and 1998, in Madrid, Luxembourg and Paris in 2003, and in numerous galleries, including the Foreign Ministry Gallery in Quito between 1994 and 2004.

Pilar Bustos, native of Quito, studied in the Cubanacán Art School in Havana, Cuba in 1961. In 1965 she began exhibiting in the National Cultural Council of that country. She participates in national and international exhibitions and biennials, and has shown her work in collective exhibitions in Cuba, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela, Spain, France and Ecuadorian cities.

Since 1965 she has held numerous individual exhibitions in important galleries and museums in Cuba, Chile, Ecuador, France, Finland and Venezuela. She currently has an anthological exhibition in the Quito Metropolitan Cultural Center. She has received important prizes in Cuba; Mention, International Competition on Drawing and Poetry on Dance in Mexico; Prize for Excellence I Feminine Paintings Show in Cuenca, Ecuador.

She has also taught in the Art School and the Architecture Faculty of the Central University of Ecuador; in the Art Faculty of San Francisco University in Quito; and in La Baquedano Workshop, as well as giving courses in the Pilar Bustos Workshop.

Lastly, Patricia León, born in Guayaquil, is a self-taught painter, researcher and psychologist, producer of Theobroma Cacao Libertus, gender facilitator and activist of the Women of Ecuador movement.

Patricia began her artistic production in 1998. Two years later she began exhibition activity, participating in shows and collective and traveling exhibitions in culture halls and galleries in her native country. The same year she exhibited individually in the Guayaquil Municipal Museum and in Galapagos. Later, the Central Bank Anthropological Museum gave her an individual traveling exhibition. In 2002 she received the III prize for painting in the Guayaquil Open Air Arts Festival. Since then she has held individual exhibitions in various Ecuadorian cities.

She has been exhibiting abroad since 2003 in Peru, Sweden, Meguro Museum of Art Tokyo, Japan, and has participated in an artists collective from Ecuador in Malaysia, China, Japan and Korea. In 2005 she exhibited in the Nahím Isaías Museum and in the Ecuadorian Central Bank Anthropological and Contemporary Art Museum, and took part in the production and painting of the II year of the Theobroma Cacao Libertus Festival.

This year she has made a performance-video for Japanese National TV, exhibited in a collective show in Mexico, produced an interactive installation, and participated in the Mujeres Montubias, Mujeres de Campo photographic exhibition in the Ecuadorian Central Bank.