Elma Pignalosa

Painter and sculptor Elma Pignalosa (Bogota, 1945–2014) was an important Colombian artist who exalted the landscape, the human figure and the still life through pictorial and sculptural works. Although always present in the history of art, in her work those themes were the result of a continuous and permanent exploration centered on color, light, form, and on an innovative interpretation of space and matter. As she affirmed on multiple occasions and as exemplified in each of her creative processes, she experimented with different tendencies and developed several approaches to exalt with creative freedom her connection to contemporary art, while always being mindful of not allowing any particular school or tendency to define her work. Pignalosa was always interested in assuming new challenges and in vindicating her artistic representations with a singular identity driven by her internal force. She would freely combine techniques and resources, as she continually reinvented herself in order to achieve innovative proposals conveyed in powerful figures drawn from memory or in fantastic scenes that were the result of the evolution of her own work and of her solid artistic education. Sensitive and poised, she often found in painting a channel to express, on the one hand, the damage that human beings have inflicted in the environment or, on the other—through experimenting with lights and tones—the depiction of recognizable objects used as a pretext to express her experiences and artistic formulations. Her singular aesthetic sense was equally relevant in her three-dimensional pieces. With a variety of supports, Pignalosa created medium, large and sometimes monumental sculptures; some of the latter being part of important public spaces across the country, like the Universidad de La Sabana in Bogota, Valledupar Square and the Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporáneo in Santa Marta, among others. A central part of her visual repertoire, Pignalosa's drawings are characterized by free strokes of loose or intertwined lines. Some are rhythmically mobile, while others are connected to recognizable but imaginative structures that were the logical outcome of an expressive attitude that underscored her creative talent. Elma Pignalosa initially studied at the Universidad de Los Andes under the directorship of sculptor Edgar Negret. She continued her studies at the Academia de Bellas Artes in Rome (Italy) where she earned her MA in Fine Arts with a major in sculpture. She spent five decades developing her craft and demonstrated equal talent and natural disposition toward painting and sculpture. Marina Núñez del Prado affirmed during an exhibition celebrated in 1989 at the Galería Kimberly in Washington that Pignalosa was regarded as "one of the most important founders in Latin America." Prominent Italian art critic Attilio Freschi, a student of her initial work said… "Colombian painter and sculptor Elma Pignalosa is gifted with an exceptional creative fantasy and she expresses it with equal security in both art fields." Since the 1960s, she was a constant presence in the Colombian art scene; she exhibited continuously and participated in nearly 400 personal and group exhibitions in major galleries and museums worldwide, in places like Prague, Rome, Paris, Buenos Aires, Miami, Washington and Madrid. She represented Colombia at the 1993 International Biennial of Sculpture in Chaco (Argentina), at the 2001 Toyamura International Sculpture Biennale (Japan), and at the 2008 Salon Comparaisons in Paris, among others. Pignalosa was a member of the Academia de Artes y Ciencias Santa Andrea in Rome since 1969, and of the Academia Real in Pontzen in Naples since 1987. Throughout her career she was given several recognitions, most notable among th...