Enter the artist’s workshop from Elche Susana Guerrero is to discover a unique world, an environment that surrounds you. One of each of his works symbology special. In his workshop in Elche, he hangs chests, images of saints printed on shoe rubber, trucks and figures made of metal cables, and above all, tiaras and other objects. agave leaves, the plant from which it takes a lot. But an artist’s work is not just what is seen, but what he conveys to each. And all his works are very powerful. This energy of his production and the essence of the artist is what manages to perfectly capture the director-directed figure and the short documentary about his work. Mario Paul MartinezHe It will be screened this Thursday at 20:00 at Odeón Cinemas in Elche. where, finally, Guerrero, Martínez and Vincent Javier Perez, the cinematographer and the executive producer will attend a colloquium talk. The three share a profession as teachers at Miguel Hernández University (UMH).
Among all Susana Guerrero’s works, a drawing by the same artist with her head in her hands stands out as a symbol of survival and “strengthening myself”. He certainly specializes in creating works of great characters who have been beheaded. And from there came the title of the short film: “Warrior, your head is in your hands.”
One of the last works of the Elche creator took him to the historic and monumental city of Toro in Zamora. In December 2020, he was commissioned to make a piece for display at the San Sebastián de los Caballeros Church-Museum, where he found a figure who was interested in his ideas and clearly wanted to capture in his work. . : Saint Catherine of Alexandria. His legend tells that he dismantled a cogwheel on his own belief before he was beheaded by the emperor Maxentius in his martyrdom. And what surprised Guerrero was the discovery that the author of the Santa Catalina frescoes was a woman. Theresa Diez, he left written in a mysterious rubric. It is one of the few wall paintings made by a woman from the Spanish Gothic period (14th century). This triangle of women, Santa Catalina, Teresa Díez and Susana Guerrero herself are the protagonists of the short documentary directed by Mario-Paul Martínez.
Idea
The idea arose after Susana Guerrero needed promotional videos for some of the key rooms she exhibited, such as 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel in New York. asked Mario-Paul Martínez, who belonged to she. UMH Research Center for the Arts (CíA) and is a professor of Audiovisual Communication at the university. “I don’t do interviews or video books,” she told him several times, as Martínez remembers smiling. However, the project of rebuilding the body of St. Catherine inspired him. “We will not do interviews, we will film”The filmmaker released Susana Guerrero after she came home with the movie. storyboard (graphic script) short documentary.
He said and it’s over. A team of about nine, most former student Now great professionals made it possible for weeks of filming and post-editing. Business It goes through the entire creative process of rebuilding the corpse of St. Catherine of Alexandria It will be exhibited at the Ibero-American event in Toro. Through reflections of Susana Guerrero, dubbingexplains how each part of the body is built and reveals the symbolic charge it has. “I wanted to bring out Susana’s spirit, capture her personality, connect with her and make her not a cold documentary”, tells the manager. “We wanted to establish a dialogue between the cinematographic language and Susana’s work and integrate both,” adds Vicente Javier Pérez. They succeeded.
His little rituals permeate each of the parts. “I’m building decapitated women who survive decapitation, it’s a reconstruction of a legend, it gives life to it”, describes the artist in his workshop in Toro, where the rib cage of Santa Catalina hangs. Also, art critic and member of the North American Spanish Language Academy, Joaquin Badajozgallery owner from New York, Thomas Jaeckeland curator of the Alicante Contemporary Art Museum, Rosa Maria CastellsMentioning the work of Guerrero.
play with light
play of light and shadow and use of the color red, It reinforces the plot content that Susana Guerrero uses in many of her works and engages the viewer in the artist’s mind throughout the film. The 18 minutes of the documentary, It was shot in his studio in Elche, outdoors at Camp d’Elx, at the UMH Faculty of Fine Arts in Altea and in Toro. “It’s very interesting to see how Susana works and where all her pieces come from,” says Vicente Javier Pérez.
Guerrero is an increasingly international artist and his work is widely appreciated. Now is the opportunity to learn in depth how it works and the ritual that goes into the creation of each piece and will not leave anyone indifferent.. The short documentary won the first prize at the Mulier Mulieris Visual Arts Biennial. It has been exhibited at the University of Alicante Museum and presented at the Venice Art Biennale, the Sax International Film Festival and Miami. “Our idea is to do the second part of the trilogy we want to record”Mario-Paul Martínez advances.