HELENEUM – LUGANO
During the course of 2012, MUSEC engaged in a series of interdisciplinary reflections on the tree, straddling anthropology, art and history. Following the inauguration of the temporary exhibition of the ‘Dèibambini’ cycle, a small but significant solo exhibition was presented, focusing on the graphic works of Silvia Paradela, an artist of Argentinean origin who for years has been animating the educational and expressive project that has allowed more than 500 children to try their hand at finding their own creativity. Silvia Paradela’s works are the result of a profound personal reflection: a sort of ideological and aesthetic distillation of a process that has lasted many years, nourished by readings and experiences of different kinds. The theme of the tree and its polyform nature have always constituted one of the terms of comparison of the artist’s most intimate expression of feelings, articulated in a delicate complexity that finds its ideal synthesis in the vegetative element. On display are a series of twenty-one embossing, i.e. reliefs on paper, created by the artist during 2011 and nine graphic works that will be the subject of a small, refined artist’s book, in a limited edition, on sale at the Museum bookshop.
Biographical notes
After attending the Escuela de Bellas Artes ‘Manuel Belgrano’, Silvia Paradela graduated in painting from the Instituto Universitario Nacional del Arte (formerly the ‘Prilidiano Pueyrredòn’ Academy of Fine Arts) in Buenos Aires in 1984. In Argentina, where he lived until 1991, he taught art education in primary and secondary schools and was a member of the ‘Grupo Patagonia’, active in the arts. At the same time, she held her first solo exhibitions, focusing on drawing and painting. After moving to Europe in 1991, she settled permanently in Switzerland and started an innovative activity of artistic animation for children. Since 2007, she has been collaborating with MUSEC as part of the “Dèibambini” project, for which she is the creative director and for which she has continuously realised didactic paths and specific publications since its second edition. She also participates as a didactic animator in the activities of the Museo Cantonale d’Arte and the Museo Cantonale di Storia Naturale. A Visarte member since 2004, she has exhibited her works in solo and group exhibitions in various cities in Argentina, Italy, Switzerland and Uruguay. The artist Silvia Paradela is available for further information (tel. +41.79.5150734; e-mail [email protected]).
A cycle dedicated to the aesthetic reflection of those artists who, without boundaries of origin, style or language, accept to openly confront the anthropological vision of creativity and the work of art, in an open dialogue with themselves and with the MUSEC team of researchers and collaborators.