Deep in the tropical forests of the Dominican Republic, high on a mountain and far from the noise of everyday life, Hulda Guzmán gazes at an endless expanse of greenery.
From her modern wooden studio, built by her architect father, Eddie, she sees the world around her: the dense jungle, the deep blue of the ocean in the distance, the warm oranges and yellows of the sky. There, she finds peace and a sense of oneness with nature.
This kind of spiritual peace may seem distant under the grey skies of Britain, but the psychedelic paintings of the young Dominican artist manage to transport the viewer to the tropics. In her first institutional exhibition in Europe, Guzmán presents intensely colorful jungle landscapes, filled with references to art history, mythical creatures and dreamy energy.
The first room of the exhibition places the audience inside her studio, creating imaginary windows into the jungle from the artist’s private world. Demons inspired by Japanese ukiyo-e prints torment Guzmán as she lies in bed; two lizards stare at each other on the windowsill; spirits seem to emerge from cups; ghosts appear as suspended spheres; and angels visit a bathing mermaid.
Everywhere, the jungle seems to invade the human world: it enters through windows, breaks through roofs and envelops everything. It is a mythological and magical universe, a symbolist explosion in the middle of the rainforest, where influences from Jungian psychoanalysis are also visible.
However, the most powerful paintings are those where Guzmán moves away from the interior spaces and surrenders completely to nature. There, the landscape becomes the main character and the jungle bursts into life. Giant trees rise towards the sky, branches and leaves wrap around the canvas, while fireflies dance in the darkness. At times, the jungle becomes so rich and dense that it approaches abstraction.
There are still human figures in these works, but they are smaller, part of the landscape and not dominant over it. They swim in the sea, walk through the garden or lie naked in nature. Often the figure is Guzmán herself, living in this beautiful place. In one painting she passes by on a motorbike, transporting a palm tree to be planted. In another, she waters plants surrounded by her family and her demons, who this time appear not as destructive forces, but as a natural part of her universe.
What is felt in these works is a complete surrender to the present and to the environment. In the face of the ecological crisis, rising sea levels and deforestation, Guzmán's paintings are a celebration of nature and its immediate and tangible beauty. Her art has an almost political purpose: it is nature that seeks to awaken man. It is a call to action and a demand to live the beauty of the moment while it still exists.
Many of the paintings are stunning, yet also aware of their artistic influences. There is pointillism, symbolism, echoes of Hurvin Anderson and Dexter Dalwood, the jungle simplicity of Henri Rousseau, the poetic blur of Peter Doig and the spiritual surrealism of Dorothea Tanning. There are traces of Seurat, Gauguin, Kahlo and Hockney; impressionism and modernism displaced to the jungle and revived.
The works seem like a direct reaction of the artist to the world around him: a sincere amazement at its beauty. And this feeling is contagious. Nature, in Guzmán's paintings, is magnificent, vivid and shocking.
These breathtaking paintings are the artist's invitation to be present in our nature, wherever we are — even if it's a rainy morning in Margate outside. /GazetaExpress/
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