Remedios Varo, her art under a contemporary look

After three years of not being in the halls of the Museum of Modern Art (MAM), the art of Varus remedies is exhibited to the public again and this time with a contemporary perspective: the body and the fluidity of the genre.

The exhibition “Varus remedies. Disruptions of the real” It is divided into three cores. It is in the section “The veil between the worlds” where “the way in which Varo presents the figure of women, the ambiguity of gender” is addressed, says MAM curator Brenda Caro in an interview.

He explains that this new reading of Varo’s work was reached because the artistic and documentary heritage that the site preserves is under constant study and “new ways of understanding Remedios’ work are always emerging.”

“We as a museum wanted to emphasize this perspective more, which seemed interesting to us now that we return to Varo’s work. The curation team is made up of young curators who have another type of training and concern. They are researchers who are approaching gender issues, methodologies that are critical of historiography, concerns that are currently in vogue in the Academy and contemporary discussion”, Caro explains about the current research panorama.

“Creation of Birds” (1957) is one of the artist’s most famous works and one of those that is analyzed under this new reading, since the main character is a hybrid between a human and a bird, whose gender is indistinguishable. This work is exhibited together with the pencil sketch of her, as well as the probable studies of her. useless science (or The Alchemist) (1955) is another painting that addresses the issue of binaryism, because although the title suggests that the protagonist is a man, in the archive there is a document in which Varo wrote that she was a woman alchemist.

Beyond contemporary reflection, the exhibition proposes to present Varo’s work in a comprehensive way, in a dialogue between the work and its archive. At the beginning of the exhibition is the nucleus “The rarity of the habitual”, where its “plastic and visual grammar” is addressed, that is, how the style that distinguishes it was configured, which is the presentation of an expanded and broken reality for the fantastic, he says Brenda Caro.

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The third core presents the critical reception that the work of Remedios Varo has had, which is exhibited through newspaper articles in which it is explained that she is one of the most falsified artists. Catalogues, posters and souvenirs from exhibitions are also shown, such as the first one he did in 1956 and even the samples that have been held abroad.

Works such as “Paradise of cats” (1955), “Woman leaving the psychoanalyst” (It could be Juliana) (1960), “Mimetism” (1960), “The flutist” (1955) and “La huida” (1961) are some of the works that are part of the 269 pieces that are on display.

“In this exhibition we returned to this legacy, since it is the responsibility of the museum, being the guardian of this heritage, to continue its investigation,” adds Caro.

Varus remedies. Disruptions of the real It will be until May.