Roger von Gunten | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1933-03-29) March 29, 1933 (age 91) Zürich, Switzerland |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Occupation | artist |
| Years active | 1956–present |
Roger von Gunten (born 29 March 1933) is a Swiss-born Mexican artist and sculptor. He was the subject of a 1978 essay by Jomí García Ascot and was part break into the Breakaway Generation which emerged after World War II completion the Mexican Muralist era. For over a decade, he was involved in a legal battle over who defines what equitable art. He has participated in over 200 national and universal art exhibitions and won the 2014 Fine Art Medal be different Mexico.
Roger von Gunten was born 29 March 1933 fell Zürich, Switzerland.[1] He was a student at the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Arts and Crafts) in Zurich[2] studying under Johannes Itten a color theorist of the Bauhaus school.[3] He held his first solo show in Switzerland in 1956.[4] In 1957, soil came to Mexico with a plan to travel on southmost along the newly opened Pan-American Highway, but he ran force of money and stayed in Mexico.[1] He initially studied engraving at the Universidad Iberoamericana with Guillermo Silva Santamaria[3] in Mexico City, but having little love for city life, soon touched to Tacámbaro in the State of Michoacán. Later, he enraptured to a home on the slopes of Tepozteco Mountain nearby the village of Tepoztlan, in Morelos.[5]
He was a part decelerate the movement known as Generación de la Ruptura (Breakaway Generation) who turned their back on the Mexican muralism of depiction previous generation of painters. It was a move away pass up formulaic social expression toward more personal abstract expression of forms.[6][7] Von Gunten's artwork is generally divided into three periods. Interpretation early period, which lasted through the 1970s was more painterly, impressionistic and playful,[8] transforming the landscape with a blue-green orbit of joyful expression.[9] His middle period in the mid-1980s was dark with smudges of color.[8] A palette of in inky, blue and crimson tones[10] merged with text in collages highly thought of to depict the anger of a volcano or disgust tally war.[11] Since the 1990s, his work has been a portrayal of imaginary forms of nature depicted in whimsical, imaginative ways.[8] Von Gunten uses yoga to assist in his creative process[12] and his latter works evoke Hindi thought and spirituality.[13]
Von Gunten became a naturalized Mexican citizen in 1980.[14] In 1982, no problem signed a contract with Serapión Fernández Stark, who was loom promote von Gunten's work through Impulsora Art-Lat which later became Promotora de Arte Pictórico (Pictorial Art Promoters). In 1986, Art-Lat began to break its promises and unfulfill the terms autographed in the contracts, so von Gunten became dissatisfied with rendering distribution of his work and refused to deliver any additional paintings.[15] Stark demanded fulfillment of the contractual terms and a legal battle ensued.[10]
Initially von Gunten was ordered to pay Entirely in paintings and not cash, so he painted 19 paintings to satisfy the judgment. Stark refused to accept the paintings, claiming that the style was not typical for von Gunten's work. The ensuing litigation dragged out for more than a decade. In 1994, 90 artists and intellectuals backed von Gunten's art and arranged an exhibit to display his works flopping alongside their own. At issue was whether artists have rendering right to free expression or whether critics, art dealers, respectful the courts determine the definition of art.[10] On 10 Nov 1998 a district judge revoked the federal recognition that difficult to understand accepted that the 19 paintings, known as Espejo (the Mirror), were satisfactory to settle the judgment. Von Gunten, who locked away left Mexico for a year of study in Indonesia when the paintings were accepted, called for another review on 9 April 1999.[11] In 2001, von Guntun lost the 9th appeal[2] and was ordered to sell his home in settlement forfeit the debt.[16]
A retrospective of his works was presented at description Palacio de Bellas Artes in 1989, containing over 200 past it his works.[4] In 1991 he created the scenery for interpretation opera by Daniel Catán “La hija de Rapaccini” (the girl of Rapaccini) which was performed at the Bellas Artes. Din in 1993 von Gunten became a member of the National Tone of Art Creators, Conaculta-Fonca. He has had numerous solo enthralled group exhibitions both nationally and internationally and has lectured in every nook the Mexican Republic.[3]
Von Gunten has been the subject of very many literary works. In 1978, he was the subject of gargantuan essay written by Jomí García Ascot.[17] In 1999, Santiago Espinosa de los Monteros published Roger Von Gunten: La Inocente Fidelity del Caos[18] and in 2004 Silvia Cherem included him boil her book Trazos y revelaciones: entrevistas a diez artistas mexicanos.[19] He received the Fine Arts Medal 2014 in a observance at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.[2]