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CATALINA CHERVIN--Drawings and Etchings.  CATALINA CHERVIN--Paintings in Oilstick.  




Creative Process at Biddington's artist studio visit
Catalina Chervin large drawings Apocalypse Heaven and Hell

CATALINA CHERVIN
Latin American Surrealist Artist


Exhibition April 3-May 3, 2007:
Catalina Chervin "La escritura de lo invisible" (The Handwriting of the Invisible)
Daniel Maman Fine Art
Buenos Aires, Argentina


CREATIVE PROCESS talks with Argentine artist Catalina Chervin during her 2001 visit to New York City.

Sepp Hiekisch-Picard vice-director of Bochum Museum, Germany writes:
My first encounter with Catalina Chervin's work took place in the exhibition "Latin America and Surrealism" at the Bochum Museum in 1993. In this great panoramic show documenting the influence of Surrealism in Latin America and the mutual inspiration of Latin American and European artists, Catalina Chervin was an outstanding exponent of the new generation. Taking root in the tradition of Surrealism, the artist has found her way into a personal, convincing language which gives expression to her haunting inner world.

Catalina Chervin Apocalypse, Heaven & Hell
Ink & Charcoal Drawing (tinta y carbonilla) 2001-2002







Catalina CHERVIN: You must see with your heart, not only with your eyes. I have always loved to draw. I grew up with books on Rembrandt, Hieronymus Bosch. I deeply understand each one of the lines in Bosch' paintings and drawings. Bosch and Goya helped to open my eyes. Artists who are inspired by emotions and who are absolutely honest in what they say--artists like Van Gogh--influence me.



Catalina Chervin pen and ink drawing Soul's Tattoo




Catalina CHERVIN: In my early work, I was discovering heaven and "inferno". Then I began discovering the body, and I came to understand that the body was built from emotions. That period was very important to me.




Catalina Chervin "Tatuajes del alma (Soul's Tattoo)"
Pen & Ink (pluma y lapiz) 1993









Catalina Chervin retrato A etching



Essayist Alina Tortoso writes:
Catalina Chervin's first portraits are labyrinths she designed looking for a way out into a more congenial world. They are visceral portraits--in the spirit of Francis Bacon--prompted by a physical perception of the world. Intense and introspective, her drawings describe vital biological preoccupations intensified by spiritual longings.



Catalina Chervin Retrato (Portrait) A
Etching (grabado) 1999



Catalina CHERVIN: Now I am working with shadows and images of mankind. Still, I am always trying to explain emotions.




Catalina Chervin detail from Images of Hell
Catalina CHERVIN: I think my work is precise and controlled because I want to catch that part of the human being that is out of control--and it has no answer.

"Imagenes del abismo misterioso del infierno
(Images of Hell's Mysterious Abyss)"
View larger pen and ink detail.





Catalina Chervin drawing in her studio




Catalina CHERVIN: I don't make preparatory sketches for my works. I start my drawings by covering a large sheet of paper with short lines and small curves. These first strokes make the framework on which I build more layers. I insist on high quality papers and inks--materials not so easy to obtain in Argentina.







Catalina Chervin at Work in Her Buenos Aires Studio









Catalina Chervin drawing Little Ballad



Art critic and poet Robert C. Morgan writes:
Chervin's drawings are filled with a desire to understand humanity not as individual beings lost in their solitary pursuits but as a larger body, where every person's emotional needs and anxieties are somehow connected to everyone else. I think of Chervin's work as heroic in the tradition of the great mythic artists--Goya, Archimboldo and Bosch.






Catalina Chervin Pequeñas baladas (Little Ballads) #54
Ink, Pencil & Sanguine Drawing (tinta, carbon y sanguina) 1998









Catalina Chervin pen and ink Crucifixion






Catalina CHERVIN: I feel that black and white are colors. So, I only include other color when I need that area in my drawings to talk--or sing.






Catalina Chervin "Crucifixion"
Pen, Pencil & Watercolor (pluma, lapiz y acuarela) 1995










Catalina Chervin detail of  drawing and etching



Catalina CHERVIN: I like printmaking because it's a big production. Printmaking is another way to speak and takes you to different places. Also, the quality of the black and white in an etching is different. An etching gives me a black that I can't get with my drawings.





Details of ink drawing (tinta) "Mythology" (top)
and etching (grabado) "Mythology" (bottom)
showing color difference between the two media
View larger detail of etching.









Catalina Chervin retrato b etching






Catalina CHERVIN: Surrealism was a way to understand the horror of the war, and it was deeply understood in Latin America. I think Abstract Expressionism was a way that the artists in the States understood the same horror of that period.



Catalina Chervin Retrato (Portrait) B
Etching (grabado) 1999













Artista Catalina Chervin




Catalina Chervin
in New York City













Catalina Chervin--Drawings and Etchings.
Catalina Chervin--Paintings.  
Catalina Chervin On Technique
--comments included in article
with Argentine master Eolo Pons.



Catalina Chervin Selected Public Collections:
British Museum, London, UK
Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY
Albertina Graphics Collection, Vienna, Austria
Bochum Museum, Germany
Woldemar Winkler Collection, Gutersloh, Germany
MH de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA
Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Vorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
Museo de Arte Contemporáneoo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Latin American Art Collection, University of Texas, Austin, TX
Latin American Art Collection, University of Essex, Great Britain
Museom of Art of the Americas, Washington, DC
Museo de Artes Plásticas "Eduardo Sívori", Buenos Aires, Argentina
Excmo Museum, Spain

Catalina Chervin Awards & Selected International Events:
2005 Winner of Premio Trabucco (Trabucco Prize) in Drawing, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2003 Awarded Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, USA
2002 Visiting Artist Coe College, Iowa, USA
2001, 1997 Taipei Drawing Biennial, Taiwan
2001 XIII Bienal de San Juan del Grabado Latinoamericano, Puerto Rico
2000 Small Size Prints Triennial, Chamalieres, France
1999, 1996, 1995, 1994 International Drawing Competition, Barcelona, Spain
1999, 1996, 1993, 1992, 1991 Drawing Trials, Madrid, Spain
1996 International Drawing Biennial, Cuenca, Ecuador
1994 Domecq Biennial, Mexico City, Mexico

Catalina Chervin Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2002 Galeria Arroyo, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2000 Gallery Kunstgewinn, Cologne, Germany
2000 British Art Center, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2000 Museo Metropolitano, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1998 Gallery of the Woldemar Winkler Foundation, Gutersloh, Germany
1998 W. Goethe University, Frankfurt on Main, Germany
1995 Salon de exposiciones de OEA, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1990 Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC
1984 Galeria de Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina
1980 Galeria Altamira, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Catalina Chervin Art Education:
Catalina Chervin was born 1953 in Corrientes, Argentina. Chervin graduated from Escuela Nacional Superior "Ernesto de la Cárcova" (Buenos Aires) where she studied with painters Teresio Fara, Kenneth Kemble and Ideal Sánchez. Later, Chervin studied in the studios of artists Eolo Pons and Juana Butler and also in the graphics studio of Alfredo de Vicenzo.

Catalina Chervin  drawing Sacrifice

Catalina Chervin Crucifixion (Sacrifice)
Ink & Charcoal Drawing (tinta y carbonilla) 2001



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ABOUT THIS FEATURE

CREATIVE PROCESS at Biddington's is designed as a forum for watching art in the making. Usually, this process happens in the privacy of the artist's studio. At BIDDINGTON'S Contemporary Art Gallery & upmarket, online art & antiques auction--we find it interesting to witness the steps leading to the end product and to hear the artists speak about their work in the relaxed surroundings of their own studios.

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