Zaida del Río
To Approach Zaida del Rio and understand her esthetic universe, you must close your eyes and open up your senses. The most contrasting thing of all is that you face one of those beings who appears to be on a fleeting mission on Earth, barely touching the planet. This is a spontaneous and sincere woman, so convincing with her esthetic codes that words are rendered meaningless in describing our impressions. And no camera can capture this halo of shapes the artist revolves in. Regardless of all that's been said, she keeps both feet on the ground, maybe weaving her way into the earthly depths and interacting with the sap that nourishes its roots.
Her works are the for the whole wide world to see. Trying to cotton on to them through other ways would only profane compositions in which slight strokes of brush and unthinkable chromatic outlays sometimes make up works hard to grapple with to a naked eye, works in which esthetic manifestations of many civilizations seem to melt into her many-sided richness.
The human body as an esthetic core Back in the mid 1970s, Zaida del Rio started to unveil her esthetic cosmos through her very first exhibits. “There was a time when I worked on the rural landscape, earthly stories, dreams, whatever I had inherited from my childhood. I liked picking one topic, studying it and going deeper into it.”
On the different stages of her work, she explains: “There's no major change in the figurative projection but rather in the topics. First, it was all about animals. Then, characters that disguise in their encounter with the public. Later on, I spent some time working on religious matters.” The outcomes of this huge creative phase was shown off in Triptychs, an award-winning exhibition in Japan and Egypt.
However, about the bird-woman –a topic she began working on ten years ago- Zaida says it was not a topic she mulled over but rather a popup. The artist cooked up a story about herself and there are times when she has grown to identify herself with this freely expressed figure. “Right now, I don't think of who I am, nor I respond to one particular code. I just want to paint my feelings. Nor I can't explain rationally why I spent so long painting only in black and white, and why gaudiness overtook my work all of a sudden. The point is that I usually respond to a subconscious that's hard to unfurl.”
As to her latest creative stage to date, Zaida broaches issues that strike her attention mightily such as the zodiac, angels and otherworldly spirits. Above her many topics, though, there's an overpowering presence in her entire career: human beings, naked man and women as the interconnecting core of all visible and hidden forces that spin around the universe.
Revealed secrets Zaida del Rio's work has given rise to hypothetical interpretations, speculations and critical appraisals that she knocks down in anticipation through a wording that underscores both the mystery and the magic of artistic creation:
“I don't define a particular trend or style in my work, nor I use symbols. Neither the bird-woman, the moons, the leaves nor anything that appears to be a symbol to me. Those are elements with a life of their own, living inside of me and in everything around me.”
Zaida has also tried her hand at illustration for books and compact discs, in making murals and in the fledgling linkage between artistic creation and dancing. The artist lives in perfect harmony with her inner self because she feels she's come to this life to be a painter. Even though she doesn't lay bare any projects in the pipeline, we know she will soon stun us with new works, new creations that remain untold in her own esthetic cosmos.
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