“Ecuador cleaned up in the Guayaquil Biennale” - “EXPRESIONES” Magazine
19-Abril-2010

Nine days before the names of the winners – already selected by the jury – are to be made public, and the display of the Álvaro Noboa International Biennale of Guayaquil, with prizes of $35,000, to be inaugurated on April 28, competition jury member, Larissa Marangoni offered clues as to the most distinguished works. Local participation overwhelmed the Luis A. Noboa Naranjo Museum, while on the international level, “there were two or three significant works” according to the artist. “More work needs to go into the publicity for future events, but with this experience there will be many more people from abroad who will want to participate”, she added. The 42-year-old sculptor from Guayaquil revealed details regarding the selection and exhibition, and clearly indicated that Ecuadorian artists swept the event.
Why did the jury decide to display more works and to bestow more Honorable Mentions than had been anticipated?
Because there were many good works among the three hundred and some that took part (387) and of which 64 were admitted. The thing of the Mentions is that it allows us to see that, in Ecuador, there are very good painters. Contemporary art and its different needs of expression cause the formal aspect to be lost, but in this case, one sees the great potential of the local visual arts.
Will the local and international works be displayed separately?
An upper floor of the Museum is being prepared and this is going to be a hit. There is a lot of space, the works are going to be mixed, and the winners and Honorable Mentions will not be in one place, so that viewers will have to undertake a search, they will visit all the rooms and the two floors.


There are three cash prizes and five Honorable Mentions in all. What is the relationship between prizewinning local and international works?
The majority are Ecuadorian. Ecuador cleaned up in the Guayaquil Biennale.
Of the eight prize-winning works, how many are Ecuadorian?
I can’t give you that number, I’m not allowed to, but on a national level, and not only in the area of painting, we have a spectacular group of artists.
“Expresiones” has its favorites among the locals and we would like you to give us a brief evaluation.
Perfect
What can you say about the work by Quiteño Paccha, a grotesque surrealist, a self-portrait of the artist roasting worms and bugs?
I have high regard for Wilson Paccha, I enjoy his work precisely because it is crude, direct, and filled with sarcasm. What we have selected has profundity. Art is for speaking of local, contemporary situations, and Paccha did a spectacular job. He speaks of realities and the painting is a dialogue between the audience and the artist. And, obviously, life is not just sweetness and light, life is not a pretty landscape. Paccha’s work is very well painted, with an excellent technique and sense of color.
And of “Capitulares”, presented by the Cuban, Saidel Brito, first place winner of the Cuenca Biennale of 2009?
This, also, is a fantastic work. Saidel has become something of an Ecuadorian; he is, together with the ITAE, an important protagonist in the cultural development of Guayaquil. As a painter, he has a great technique, very detailed, he does all those repetitions, but with a very strong concept. The work that he has presented has strength not only in the formal, pictorial, tradition of the painting, but also in its concept. Paccha and Brito are two great artist, each in his own style.



This painting has the mark of Brito, but it is somewhat different, right?
Yes, the good thing is it makes direct reference to the country’s reality; that is the roof of the Carondelet. It has strength, an architectural register, it has history and is our….

One of our favorite works is “Picnic” by the young Juan Caguana. How would you evaluate this work?
He is a student of the ITAE group. A young man who has had good schooling and demonstrates the need to tell a story. Those young painters who are taking up today’s themes, those who are taking account of our realities, they are the ones who are going to get ahead.