Aran Cravey Gallery is pleased to present in its inaugural exhibition the work of French-Peruvian artist, Natalia Villanueva.

Entitled “Write Spirit Village,” the exhibition is actually a creation of Villanueva’s artistic alias “Geamoon”, a moniker that synthesizes the disparate threads of a cultural heritage weaved between Paris and Peru. Or as the artist describes it, “a half and half word. All those we met, all the things done. The amalgamation of conversations, laughter, the order in the beyond. A multitude of moments who are ready to be transformed…”

Like Giuseppe Penone, the renowned artist in whose atelier she studied at the L’Ecole Nationale Superérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris, Villanueva’s work evolves from a series of processes that emerge out of an instant of unconscious impulse. What follows is a moment elongated through the exploration of performance, drawing, sculpture and installation resulting in a dialectical culmination that engages the viewer as part of its ultimate realization.

Communication rests at the core of Villanueva’s work, both as a concept and a conduit. As intrinsic to the life cycle as birth and death, the artist holds expression as the consummate act of human experience. Her work serves as an invitation for the viewer to partake in a dialogue, a memory, a moment long forgotten.

Sealed envelopes, torn in two, overflow with confetti, spilling their multi-colored contents onto the floor and covering the entirety of a gallery wall. A model house hangs inverted from the ceiling, its roof split open, divulging the black contents of its interior onto the ground below.

Temporal in nature, the work’s medium reflect its simple and ephemeral beauty, while its meticulous size and volume speak to the strength and generosity of its gesture. Drawing from deeply personal experiences, the artist manages to convey an intimacy that is both private and shared, tapping into a collective narrative that speaks to the complex nuances and subtle tragedies of our communicative exchange.

Natalia Villanueva (b. 1982) was born in Montpellier, France, and raised between Peru and Paris, where she attended the L’Ecole Nationale Superérieure des Beaux-Arts, graduating in 2010 with highest honors.
Her work has been shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, the Base Space Gallery (Chicago), Galerie Gauche (Paris), Espaces des Arts Sans Frontiers (Paris), Salon 11 Bis (Paris), and in the acclaimed “Soudain: Déjà” exhibition at the Grandes Galeries des Beaux-Arts (Paris).
Her work can also be seen on the cover of the 2010 Beaux-Arts de Paris Guide and Connaissance des Arts Magazine, Nov.’11.