Cecilia Miguez: The Presence of an Absence

Cecilia Miguez

The Presence of an Absence

September 24 – November 7, 2015

Clothed in a skin of meticulously cut pencils, a figure stands inside a circle of rusted metal.  She turns her head towards her right shoulder and seems to gaze simultaneously at something in front of her and inside of her.  She’s thinking.  Yet she’s looking forward, alert to the outside world.  The sculpture’s illusion of balance - the work is entitled Literary Acrobat – is achieved via a combination of bronze, metal and mixed media but driven by the otherworldly invention of Cecilia Miguez.

Though initially more attracted to drawing (she began her education in her native Uruguay as a student of architecture) MIguez fell in love with the narrative of form and with the business of making things.   Thus, assisted by a treasure trove of found objects with inspirations ranging from chess pieces to De Vinci flying machines to mythology, the artist has spent the past twenty years creating a language all her own with her emotionally charged figures.

Some huddle inside larger structures.  Some, featuring patinas of gold and silver, generate light atop weathered mahogany boxes.  Bees function as talismans and, in a fascinating re-appropriation, pencils carved and sequenced into cubes form backdrops eloquent as embroidery.  All speak volumes.  To hear them, simply open your eyes.

The artist’s work is included in numerous private and public collections as well as The Long Beach Museum of Art, The Riverside Museum, The Museum of Latin American Art and The Museum of Contemporary Art in Montevideo, Uruguay.  Louis Stern Fine Arts is the artist’s exclusive representative.