User:Sienra Díaz/Nancy Kamin

Nancy Kamin (born in 1951 in Buffalo, New York) is a visual artist focused on abstract expressionism. She, along with other contemporaries (such as Jose Lazcarro, Michael Della Valle, and Jose Villalobos), played a fundamental part in the development of contemporary visual art in Puebla, teaching in both the University of the Americas and The Institute of Visual Arts of the State of Puebla.

Biography
Born in Buffalo, New York. Kamin’s formal studies were in Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art in Ohio and at the Academia de San Carlos, Faculty of Arts and Design of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She lived and continues to have a studio, in Santa María Tonantzintla, Puebla where she was inspired by Rural Mexico, and the baroque architectural heritage, adding it to her philosophy and artistic direction. Nancy Kamin has exhibited in solo, group, and juried exhibitions (e.g. 'The Veracruzano Landscape,' juried by art critic Raquel Tibol), in Mexico and the United States, receiving awards for paintings and sculptures. She has work in private collections (e.g. Nicholas Ingram's collection of Mexican Modern art ) and has been loaned to public sites in North America. Nancy Kamin currently resides between Santa Monica, CA, Mexico, and Miami, FL.

Abstract Art in Mexico
The presence of abstract art in Mexico was not consolidated as a sustained and unified current until the 1960s. This abstraction movement was part of the movement called 'La Ruptura' at the end of the 1980s. The rupture is against muralists, dogmatists, and nationalists. It is not a particular style, but an interest away from social issues in favor of personal expression. In 1974 Nancy Kamin moved to Mexico and studied at the Academia de San Carlos, Faculty of Arts and Design of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). There she finds the artistic work of La Ruptura, painters of the same thought as her, in search of their own voices and new ideas to explore through art, artists such as Lilia Carillo, Manuel Felguerez, Vlady, Toledo, Luis Lopez Losa, Wolfang Paalen, Sjolander.

In 1981, Nancy Kamin moved to Puebla and helped consolidate the La Ruptura Poblana movement, eventually representing it internationally in 1990.

Nancy Kamin and the Beginning of The Rupture in Puebla
When Nancy Kamin arrives in Puebla, she enters a printmaking workshop, which, as part of the dissidence, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, teachers and alumni of the Academy of San Carlos (UNAM) created with the support of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP). There, Nancy Kamin, together with her colleague and friend Sando Berger, another “outstanding member of the abstract movement of Puebla”, meets Mihael Dalla Valle, José Luis Hernández, Guillermo Sienra and José Villalobos, and together they decide to form a group, a collective, to exhibit your work. “Between 1988 and 1989 the painters [of this group] collaborated for one of the first group exhibitions […] the exhibition “6 painters”, which would undoubtedly be the precursor of the internationalization of contemporary Puebla pictorial expression and at the same time represent [ a] break with the established exhibition systems and with the formal characteristics of the work of art in Puebla. This took place in the El Puente Gallery of City Hall, in Los Angeles, California, sponsored by Tom Bradley and with the support of institutions such as the National Institute of Fine Arts (INBA), Ministry of Public Education (SEP), etc. .”

Stylistic Analysis of Nancy Kamin's Work
Her goal is to capture the essence of the sensual world around her and create contemporary personal expression rather than to simply imitate nature. When she lived in Tonanzintla (1984-1985, 1986-1990 and 2001-2011), municipality of San Andrés Cholula, in the state of Puebla, she was inspired by the world surrounding her, with views of Popocatépetl, Ixtaccihuatl and the Malinche on the horizon. During spring and summer, greens present an infinite variety of textures and shades, along with the colors of wild and cultivated flowers that change throughout the day. In autumn, the movement of white, gray and blue clouds, expand our view towards infinity. In winter, the struggle of plants to survive the climate is reflected in the faint yellows and browns of the earth, contrasting with a more intense blue sky. Kamin’s work responds to her surroundings, reflecting the colors, shapes, textures and lines that characterize it. In the conference that the artist gave at the Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, just after the previously mentioned publication, the artist also mentioned the influence of the baroque architecture of the churches in the area on her art.

History as an Artist
In her early works of art, Kamin was inspired by the figure, landscapes and objects in her environment to express himself. She needed to study the visual world and understand it to have real elements to form a repertoire. In this sense, Cézanne was her teacher, and her space was as important to her as the objects she painted. Her goal was to capture the contradiction of translating objects and space from a three-dimensional world to the two-dimensional world of the canvas. Often, in the process of trying to paint the air around objects, she lost interest in defining the objects themselves. Inspired by the works of Matisse and Karel Appel, she became lost in the colors, movements, lines, shapes and textures of her paintings. She fell in love with oil paint and experimented with mixing colors, seeking the limits of her chromatic range. She learned to play with the juxtaposition of colors to create different effects. She strove to make the colors intense and vibrant without being garish, and to harmonize them so that they remained balanced without losing their strength. She experimented with textures that she added to the fabric and sometimes, she would make a textured area be the background while a flat area was in front of it. She discovered that all the rules she learned about abstraction were contextual and not universal, and that, as an artist, she must create her own rules as her vision of her world evolved to present to others. It was the viewer's responsibility to respond to these rules if she wanted to share her artistic vision.

Philosophy of the Artist
The artist develops his philosophy through work and experiences to have a perspective from which to observe the world and express his philosophy. Western philosophical tradition assumes that there is a single objective reality that is the basis of experience and that only what can be measured, such as size, shape, and weight, is true. Subjective qualities such as sound, taste and color are considered illusory. In our society, certainty and predictability are valued. Subjective experiences are seen as secondary and only the result of examining a world based on quantifiable scientific facts. This, actually, is an inversion of reality, that our isolated and abstracted minds try to master an organic reality rather than respond to it. The artist art tries to be faithful to the sensual world, without trying to explain it, but rather to be part of life itself and to animate the senses. She seeks to free himself from restrictions to see and experience the world through her artwork.

Individual Exhibits

 * 2011: “Fuera del Marco”, Galería de la facultad de Filosofía y Letras, La Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala, Tlaxcala, México.
 * 2010: “Fuera del Marco”, Museo Mexicano de Arte Moderno y Contemporáneo (MMAMyC), Curada por Arte Sepia, Tenango del Aire, México.
 * 2006: Galería de la Universidad del Valle de México, Puebla, México.
 * 2003: Master’s Gallery, San Jose State University, San Jose, California, USA.
 * 2000: Open Studios, San José, California, USA.
 * 1991: Los Gatos Town Hall (curated by Ingles Art) Los Gatos, California.
 * 1987: Galería del Instituto de Artes Visuales del Estado de Puebla, Puebla, México.
 * 1987: Galería del Instituto Tecnológico de Puebla, Puebla, México.
 * 1986: Galería José María Velasco, Bellas Ares, México, D.F.
 * 1984: Museo de la Ciudad de México, México, D.F.
 * 1983: Escuela de Diseño, Bellas Artes, México, D.F.
 * 1982: Pinacoteca Universitaria, Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.

Collective Exhibits

 * 2015: Hale Arts Space, Santa Mónica, Ca, USA.
 * 2011: “Materia y Espíritu”, Galerías del Palacio, Gobierno Municipal de Puebla, Puebla, México.
 * 2007: “Arte Contemporáneo en Angelópolis”, Benemérita Universidad de Puebla, Puebla, México.
 * 2005: “Arte Contemporáneo” Galerías del Palacio Municipal, Gobierno Municipal de Puebla, Puebla, México.
 * 2005: “XXIX Premio Nacional de Cerámica”, Tlaquepaque, Jalisco.
 * 1997: “Benefit Art Auction”, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California, USA.
 * 1996: “Valentine’s Day Exhibit”, San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, San Jose, California, USA.
 * 1992: “Work in Clay”, Gavilan College Gallery, Gilroy, California, USA.
 * 1990: “Cinco Pintores”, The Bridge Gallery, City Hall, Los Ángeles, California, USA.
 * 1988: “Seis Pintores”, Museo Universitario, Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Puebla, México.
 * 1987: “Arte Contemporáneo de Puebla”, Galería José Guadalupe Posada, Bellas Artes, México, D.F.


 * 1999: “Feats of Clay XII”, Lincoln Center for the Arts, Lincoln California, USA.
 * 1998: “Annual De Anza College Exhibit”, De Anza College, Cupertino, California, USA.
 * 1995: “Avenue of the Arts Sculpture”, San Mateo Arts Council, Belmont, California.
 * 1995: “Cartel Blanche”, City of Brea Gallery, Brea, California.
 * 1994: “Open Juried Show”, The Tait Avenue Museum and Gallery, Los Gatos, California, USA.
 * 1992: “New Painting and Sculpture by Northern California Artist”, Gilory, CA, USA.
 * 1992: “Women: Self Image”, Gallery Arkade, Oakland, California, USA.
 * 1991: “Drawing from Life”, Jupiter Gallery, Napa, California, USA.
 * 1991: “Yuba College Foundation Annual Exhibit”, Yuba Sutter Regional Arts Council, Yuba, USA.
 * 1986: “Competitive Painting Exhibit”, Attleboro Museum of Art, Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA.
 * 1986: “Annual Independent Artists Exhibit”, Whistler House Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA.
 * 1986: “Fifth National Juried Show”, Green Art Gallery, Guilford, Connecticut, USA.

Awards

 * 1999: “Donor Award”, “Feats of Clay XII”, Lincoln, Ca, USA.
 * 1998: “Clay Marker Award”, De Anza College, Cupertino, Ca, USA.
 * 1994: “Special Recognition”, Newport Beach Fall Open 94, Bay Street Gallery, Balboa Island, Ca, USA.
 * 1986: “Prize for Color”, Attleboro Museum of Art, Attleboro, Massachusetts, USA.
 * 1986: “Honorable Mention in Sculpture”, Whistler House Museum, Lowell, Massachusetts, USA.