Photo: Marianna Collet
Natalya Critchley
Bournemouth, England, 1963. Studied at Central School of Art and Design, London. Lives in Venezuela since 1981.
Email: natalya.critchley@gmail.com
Artist of English origin who came to Venezuela looking for light at 18, and ended up living for two decades in Puerto Ordaz , an industrial city on the confluence of the Orinoco and Caroni rivers with the brightest light on earth. I consequently developed an extensive body of work based on this monumental industrial park and the ever growing city.
Through constant repetition, the originally very figurative images were synthesized into an alphabet of symbols derived from elements and structures in the surroundings with which to rewrite the landscape. Through this abstract language I could finally embrace a revision of the female figure, and in increasingly narrative work, explore the broken balance of ecology in the masculine world of manufacturing. This is the theme of an animated short film in progress.
Since 2001 I have lived in Caracas working between my studio and San Agustín del Sur, and at present in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA.
