The artist Yvonne Scarleth Recinos Grignon (Pfeiffer) was born in Guatemala and comes from a family of painters and sculptors, the foremost being her uncle Efraín Recinos, is a famous architect, painter and Modernist sculptor. She came to the United States on a Fulbright scholarship and graduate summa cum laude with a double degree in marketing and international business. Her artistic career has always been in the background. While living in Puerto Rico, the artist devoted her time solely to honing her artistic style. Before rejoining the corporate world, she had the opportunity to obtain a master's degree in art history from California State University. Her passion is the pastel and her specialties are the human figure and capturing the essence of Latin American culture, particularly her Guatemalan heritage. The 2013 exhibit “Las Calacas” is Yvonne’s tribute to the history of Latin American women.
People have come to know Calacas through Day of the Dead celebrations, artistic relics, tattoos, and ethnic funeral ceremonies. But the calaca’s origin can be found in Aztec roots and represents the ceasing of one’s life and the passing into the afterlife. Calaca is actually a colloquial word for ‘skeleton’ and is represented by a skeleton that is usually garnished with flowers and painted with bright colors. Various Latin countries have adapted their own meaning to the calaca imagery. In Mexico, the calaca is celebratory and used in festivals where people where masks and festive clothing all inspired by the calaca style. The Mexican calaca generally looks upon death with positivism and optimism. In contrast, in Guatemala the traditional calaca is a bare skeleton usually without decorations or colors which translates into fear and mourning upon the event of death.
“The immediacy of pastel and its ability to morph under the direction of my hand is what fascinates me about this medium. Pastels are flexible, bendable and willing to work with the artist to create an image. They do not need another medium to help them achieve their goal, they do not need to wait to show you their final results, and yet they are willing to change at your will until you are satisfied with the results. They share their essence with you; you become them and they become you – a true cooperation of existences. Pastels have, however, a very fragile existence and many have to become dust before they can morph into a painting. Their evolving method is something that captivates me as well, because I know that in any given painting, many pastels will end up as dust on my hair, hands, and feet, leaving their original form with the promise to become part of a composition of my choosing. I am aware that pastels were not revered as high art in their time, but can anyone devalue the beauty of a Degas? Would his ballerinas, in blues and pinks, look the same in another medium? Besides, I love the fact that other mediums may be revered as more “artistic” ones, for this keeps pastel artists honest and humble and without the desire to compete against any other medium. To help my pastels last longer than my existence, I try to utilize pastels of the highest quality and archival, museum quality paper; however, like everything else, their life is temporary, and dust cannot be imprisoned forever. The absence of a brush gives me freedom to utilize my hands in the manipulation of colors, textures, and shapes. In my structural world, pastel gives me freedom, dust, and mess, an exit way to my creativity that lifts the confines of expectations.”
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