Susana Amundaraín

Susana Amundaraín

Susana Amundaraín (* 1954 in Caracas ) is a Venezuelan painter, installation and performance artist.

Life

After studying at the Universidad Simón Bolívar in Caracas, Amundaraín attended the Metropolitan State College of Denver and studied at the University of Denver until 1982 . From 1981 to 1983 she was a member of TransArt , an interdisciplinary performance group led by Bill Gian . During this time the first multimedia works were created under the guidance of Mindy Lorenz and Mel Strawn .

After a six-year stay in Caracas, she returned to the USA and studied performance with Peggy Phelan at New York University , dealing intensively with the ideas and concepts of Michael Taussig and Carl Weber. She was also a guest student at the Tisch School of the Arts .

In 1994 Explosion de una Memoria was created , a painting installation for the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, with music by her husband Efraín Amaya and based on a play by Heiner Müller . In 1999, in collaboration with her daughter, the filmmaker Vanessa Briceño , Efraín Amaya and Carol Ciavonne, she created the multimedia “operatic installation” Clepsydra , which premiered in Pittsburgh on the occasion of the millennium.

She also designed sets for the Venezuelan Grupo Theja (including the world premiere of José Ignacio Cabrujas ' Autorretrato de Artista con Barba y Pumpa ) and for the Pennsylvania Dance Theater with André Koslowski . For the children's opera Phantasmagorilla? No! Phantasmagoria Amaras wrote the libretto. Amundaraín teaches at Chatham University in Pittsburgh.

In addition to numerous group exhibitions, Andumaraín had more than twenty solo exhibitions in Venezuela, Mexico, England and the USA, among others. a. in the Angel Boscán Gallery of the Universidad Central de Venezuela (1983), the Bolívar Hall in London (1992), the Museo de Bellas Artes de Caracas (1994) and the Chatham College Art Gallery in Pittsburgh (1997 and 2002). Works by her can be found in the collections of the Galería de Arte Nacional and the Museo de Bellas Artes in Caracas, the Museo de Arte Moderno in Bogotá, the Philbrook Museum of Art in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Maracay , the Museo de Arte Moderno in Mérida, the Duke University Museum of Art and others.

Works

• I want to Draw a Mandala (solo performance), Bonfile-Stanton Center for the Arts, Denver, 1981
• Within and Selket , two solo pieces in the multimedia production Nefertiti's Dream by Bill Gian , Houston Fine Arts Center and Grout Theater, Denver, 1982
• El Salvador with Daniel Strawn and Paul Schoder (performer) River Gallery, Denver, 1982
• Her Body-Within , solo performance, River Gallery, Denver, 1982
• Selket , coproduction with Bill Gian, Spark Gallery. Denver, 1982
• Untitled performance with Michael Meyers (performer) Shwayder Art Gallery, University of Denver, 1982
• De la Escuela de Atenas a la Escuela de Caracas with Diego Barbosa (performer), Galería de Arte Nacional, Caracas, 1985
• Cuatro minutos para mirar , interactive installation in collaboration with Xiomara Moreno , 1991
• Clepsydra: an operatic installation with 13 performers , installation, stage design and co-author, 1999
• Brasilia , performance with Michael Pestel (narrator / performer) Chatham Art Gallery, Pittsburgh, 2005
• Mimoun , set design for the solo dance piece by Andre Koslowski based on music by Douglas Levine , 2005
• Soul Carrier Stage design for the dance piece by Gwen Ritchie and Labco Dance, 2006
• Autorretrato de Artista con Barba y Pumpá by José Ignacio Cabrujas, set, 2006
• Silent conversations , stage design for the solo piece by Andre Koslowski, 2007
• Prometheus set for the Pennsylvania Dance Theater and the Pennsylvania Center Orchestra, 2007
• Phantasmagorilla? No! Phantasmagoria Set design and libretto for the children's opera by Efraín Amaya, 2007

Web links

• Website of Susana Amundaraín