Guillermo Kuitca
Encyclopedia
Guillermo Kuitca is an Argentinean artist who was born in Buenos Aires
in 1961, where he continues to work and live. Kuitca's work has been shown extensively around the globe, and is included in many important public collection, including The Tate Gallery
, England; The Metropolitan Museum of Art
, New York, NY; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC ; Albright-Knox Art Gallery
, Buffalo, NY and The Daros Collection, Zürich, Switzerland . Kuitca represented Argentina at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Recurrent themes of travel, maps, memory, and migration can be found in Kuitca’s work.
Kuitca’s retrospective “Guillermo Kuitca: Everything, Paintings and Works on Paper, 1980 – 2008” opened at the Miami Art Museum in 2009, and has traveled to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo (19 February– 30 May 2010), New York, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (26 June – 19 September, 2010) and will soon open at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. (21 October 2010 – 9 January 2011).
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
in 1961, where he continues to work and live. Kuitca's work has been shown extensively around the globe, and is included in many important public collection, including The Tate Gallery
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
, England; The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a renowned art museum in New York City. Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided into nineteen curatorial departments. The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan's Museum Mile, is one of the...
, New York, NY; Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC ; Albright-Knox Art Gallery
Albright-Knox Art Gallery
The Albright-Knox Art Gallery is an art museum located in Delaware Park in Buffalo, New York. The gallery is a major showplace for modern art and contemporary art. It is located directly across the street from Buffalo State College.-History:...
, Buffalo, NY and The Daros Collection, Zürich, Switzerland . Kuitca represented Argentina at the 2007 Venice Biennale. Recurrent themes of travel, maps, memory, and migration can be found in Kuitca’s work.
Early and Mid- 1980s
In the early and mid- 1980s, Kuitca made works which incorporate theater imagery. Many paintings from this period feature figures on a stage-like platform, with titles often inspired by plays, literature and music.Late 1980s and Early 1990s
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Kuitca began to integrate the subjects of architecture and topography in his work, often exploring the confluence of communal and private spaces. The floor plans of public institutions, such as those found in the “Tablada Suite” series, geographical maps, and genealogical charts begin to serve as important references during this period.” In 1992, Kuitca created his first works which incorporated the image of a painted bed, “often small and forlorn on the canvas.” Afterwards, the artist used the motif of an apartment floor plan, middle-class and compact, with only one bathroom. This floor plan would eventually lead to maps, theater plans and baggage carousels.1990s and Early 2000s
Kuitca continued to explore organizational systems, in his “Neufert Suite” (1998) and “Encyclopédie” (2002) series. In his “Global Order” (2002) works, Kuitca combines a world map with architectural plans for interior spaces, “identifying borders and notions of ‘place’ as the changing products of human invention.”Maps
Kuitca is well known “for his use of maps – particularly his transcriptions of topography onto mattresses” Kuitca says he uses the image of a map “to get lost… not to get oriented.” Stemming from his experimentation with aerial views of floor plans, Kuitca moved to maps because “he liked the way they occupy a space somewhere between the abstract and the representational.”Kuitca’s retrospective “Guillermo Kuitca: Everything, Paintings and Works on Paper, 1980 – 2008” opened at the Miami Art Museum in 2009, and has traveled to the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo (19 February– 30 May 2010), New York, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (26 June – 19 September, 2010) and will soon open at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C. (21 October 2010 – 9 January 2011).