“Americas Society presents Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo, the first solo exhibition in the United States of Paraguayan artist Feliciano Centurión (b. 1962, San Ignacio de las Misiones, Paraguay; d. 1996, Buenos Aires). Centurión created textile works engaging with folk art and queer aesthetics in 1990s South America. Through the embroidery and painting of vernacular objects such as blankets and aprons, Centurión rendered poetic readings of his youth in the tropics, his love experiences in the metropolis, and his spiritual reflections before his untimely death due to AIDS-related illness.” — Americas Society
“Centurión’s form of activism and resistance was intimate and affective, focusing on love, spirituality, and humor—the shelter, or abrigo, that art can provide in a hostile world,” said exhibition curator Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro.
His work has been largely overlooked since his death in 1996, only recently receiving recognition including a solo presentation at the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo: Affective Affinities in 2018. “His depictions of plants and animals constitute a garden of delights in which memory and imagination work equally to uphold his Paraguayan identity and assert his rightful place in art history,” said Director and Chief Curator of Visual Arts at Americas Society Aimé Iglesias Lukin.”
Cangrejos (Crabs), 1990–93. Acrylic on blanket, 88 ¼ × 76 ¾ inches (224.2 × 194.9 cm). waldengallery, Buenos Aires. © Estate of the Artist, Familia Feliciano Centurión
Tigres (Tigers), 1993. Acrylic on blanket. 70 7⁄8 × 72 ¾ inches (180 × 185 cm). Private collection, Buenos Aires. © Estate of the Artist, Familia Feliciano Centurión
Medusas (Jellyfish), 1994. Acrylic and crochet on blanket, 78 ¾ × 74 ¾ inches (200 × 190 cm). Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid. Long-term loan of the Fundación Museo Reina Sofía, 2020 (Donation of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in honor of Gustavo Bruzzone). © Estate of the Artist, Familia Feliciano Centurión
Eres una flor única (You are a unique flower), 1994. Embroidery on fabric, 81 ½ × 59 inches (207 × 150 cm). Hochschild Correa Collection. © Estate of the Artist, Familia Feliciano Centurión
Ensueño (Dream), 1995. Embroidery on fabric, 19 ¾ × 19 ¾ inches (50 × 50 cm). Hochschild Correa Collection.
Ave del paraiso florecido (Bird of flowering paradise), c. 1995. Embroidery on fabric, 16 ½ × 22 ½ inches (42 × 57 cm). Private collection, London. © Estate of the Artist, Familia Feliciano Centurión
En el silencio del descanso . . . (In the silence of my rest . . .), c. 1996. Embroidery on fabric, 18 × 21 inches (43 × 74 cm). Collection of Raúl Naón, Buenos Aires. © Estate of the Artist, Familia Feliciano Centurión
Images courtesy Americas Society.
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