ARTIST VIRGINIA FRIEYRO
Virginia Frieyro is a Spanish painter based in Madrid who began her journey in interior design before a Master's in Chromatic led her to painting. She studied at the University of Bellas Artes in Madrid and attended workshops at Fundacion Botin in Villa Iris. Winner of the Premio Penagos and the Fundacion Gregorio Prieto drawing awards. International finalist at the Sabrina Amrani Gallery in Dubai. This interview began with a studio visit.
Virginia Frieyro
Madrid · Studio portrait
Art has always been a part of her. Since she was a child she went to galleries with her parents and visited the Fundacion Juan March. One of her earliest memories is being completely hypnotised by a painting at the Museum Sorolla. In her twenties she traveled all over Italy from church to church, inspired by the classical Italian masters: Giotto, Benozzo Gozzoli, Piero della Francesca, frescoes and gold leaf. She never tires of visiting the Prado to see the works of Patinir. On a recent trip to Vienna she stayed an hour completely mesmerised by Brueghel.
Virginia Frieyro I am always inspired during my travels. All of it translates some way or another into my work. In terms of contemporary artists, I am very interested by the work of Ethiopian artist Julie Mehretu — her work is very powerful and her exhibit at Fundacion Botin in Santander drove me crazy. There are also so many incredible women artists coming to light now. Take the case of Hilma af Klint, the first abstract artist in history, before Kandinsky and Klee. Her exhibit at the Guggenheim broke world records.
Studio visit
Madrid · Courtesy the artist
Virginia Frieyro Only a few galleries are projecting internationally, and what is necessary is to bring Spanish art to the forefront. Invest in international fairs, even if they are only satellite events of the bigger ones. Also, many good artists in Spain have to focus on promoting their own art and business development, leaving them with less time for creativity, which is a challenge.
Frieyro 108
This project came to light casually. It was not thought out or organised, it simply just happened. My exceptional yoga instructor, Ayan, gave us the 21 Sun Salutations challenge to complete daily for 108 days in a row. This came to me at a crossroads in my life, where I was retrospecting and saw it as an opportunity to heal. I spontaneously added one more element to the challenge: to complete a watercolour on each day.
Each one represents an emotional record of every day from a very tough year, where I was coming back to myself, purging the toxins, anger and sadness that had consumed me for so long. Like a volcano, this piece is my most magmatic. One watercolour leads to another, like a puzzle creating a massive unit of about 2.50 by 6 metres that develops horizontally.
Thanks to my colleagues Maria Gimeno and Diana Larrea, whose great work brings forgotten women artists in history to light, I dedicate each watercolour to artists who either were born or passed on that day. It is my personal homage to these women artists, giving each unique day a title in their honour.
"On May 30th, I will bring all the pieces together in a final live performance where I will invite the audience to share this emotional moment of seeing the whole form in one final piece, complete for the first time."
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