Latinissimo 2024

Two Opening Receptions Saturday 9/21/24 6:00 - 9:00 PM
within three short blocks in Downtown Bridgeport

The vision of artist/curator Yolanda Vasquez Petrocelli takes place at two art venues. 25 artists present work at Read’s Artspace and two Peruvian artists at City Lights Gallery, Guido Garaycochea and Samuel Pintos. Special thanks to co-curators Carlos Biernnay and Israel Zavellos.

Latinissimo Biennale BPT at
City Lights Gallery

Exhibit runs September 18 - October 20, 2024

Regular City Lights Gallery and Frame Shop Hours
Weds-Fri 12:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Sat 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Featured Artists: Samuel Pintos and Guido Garaycochea

Samuel Pintos presents his exhibition “Seasonal Portraits,” of which he says:

“The need to capture the appearance of the individual for their transcendence has been a primordial praxis in the history of universal art. In this way, the portrait has been evolving, adapting to new trends corresponding to different social and cultural contexts. Throughout our lives, we experience different seasons; each stage is a learning process and shapes who we are, our present. "Seasonal portraits" is the subjective representation of that present; it is to reflect, through painting, an emotional response to the presence or absence of others.

In my proposal, I show my different seasons in relation to the unconventional portrait, an evolution from symbolism towards an expressionism marked by "emotional distortion", where I do not seek to depict physical features but rather to transmit spiritual, psychological ,and emotional features. In other words, it is my need to distort reality influenced by my emotions, feelings, and experiences in order to express my internal world and create my own reality from my subjectivity.”

Guido Garaycochea, Born in Lima, Peru, in 1961, studied at the Escuela Nacional Superior de Bellas Artes del Peru, graduating with several awards and honors. Garaycochea then moved to Chile in 1992 to further study art and teach at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educacion, earning a Bachelor of Aesthetics Degree and later his Master's degree in History and Theory of Art. Guido's work is an abstraction of dire and lost dreams, using textured layers to create a sense of motion. The works are contextualized in rich history, experiences, and acknowledgement of issues past and present.

Garaycochea moved to the United States in the fall of 2003 to become an International Artist in Residence at The Griffis Art Center in New London, CT., and later in 2005 at I-Park in East Haddam, CT. Garaycochea currently teaches at Mitchell College in New London, CT., and runs a non-profit dedicated to promoting the understanding of art amongst the Anglo and Hispanic communities, bridging the communities culturally and showcasing Latin American art.