Burnet Fine Art & Advisory’s newest exhibition is curated by Luisa Fda. Garcia-Gomez and features work by herself along with Clara Ramirez-Katz (France), Powerpaola (Argentina), and Alexandra Arango (France).

Petrichor (/ˈpɛtrɪkɔːr/) is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is derived from Greek petra (πέτρα), "rock", or petros (πέτρος), "stone", and īchōr (ἰχώρ), the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods in Greek mythology.

“My hometown of Medellín lies in a valley, a hollow cradled by mountains and bisected by the Medellín River. The city is divided into sections. The North is where Bello, one of the most dangerous municipalities in the valley, may be found. The El Poblado neighborhood, where many upper class, “good people” live, is located in

the South. I grew up in the West, in the Calasanz neighborhood, which was named for a priest who supported the right to education for all classes. In the East, the neighborhoods of Boston and Buenos Aires stretch out from the city center and eventually adjoin the “Comunas,” a spreading series of impoverished, self organized communities.

Those displaced by the violence of many Colombian conflicts—by guerrillas, paramilitaries, drug trafficking cartels, common crime… you name it—live on the mountainsides above the valley. It is a world apart from “us,” that, little by little, has been integrated into the Medellín of eternal spring.

The city earned its reputation for “eternal springtime” thanks to a year-round average temperature near 70° F. Now, it rains, and it is hot. The rain falls in some places but not everywhere in the city. Today, overcrowding, climate change, and vehicle congestion have affected the climate. Many days see temperatures above 80° F. It's hot and humid, like a pot that heats the earth and simmers people's spirits.

After each rain, the smells of wet earth emanates from the pavement—a mixture of wet dust and damp dirt, humidity, hot showers, noise, and sweat. It surrounds the loud music of the stores; it is carried by street vendors selling avocados and the Mazamorra (corn, milk, and guava paste) of the day. It is an odor that comes and goes with the subway, it's bitten by street dogs and absorbed by high school students wearing heavy cotton uniforms and made desperate by the heat and the city.

Medellín smells of its despairs, its laughter, the parties, the mountains, endless sighing, and constant exasperation. This weather never seems to change. Together, the artists in this show, often geographically separated from our shared home, offer a diasporic portrait of Medellín.” – Luisa Fda. Garcia-Gomez

LUISA FDA. GARCIA-GOMEZ

Luisa F Garcia-Gomez is a multi-disciplinary artist. She translates her feelings into drawings, installations, happenings, and public art by combining art and design elements. Luisa grew up in Medellín, Colombia, in the 80s. These were turbulent times in her country. Medellín was immersed in a period of violence wherein random explosions and a state of constant tension were part of daily life.

Garcia-Gomez's artwork is born of catharsis. She seeks to dilute or intensify her pieces through the use of intrinsic symbols created by the comings and goings of her pencils, brushes, and constantly active mind.

Her life and oeuvre form a narrative that combines whimsical landscapes, memories of war, childhood adventures, death, and her path as an immigrant woman. Through her artwork, Garcia-Gomez demonstrates her impulse and need to express her world perception from a self-narrative and abstract point of view, and, above all, her tireless impulse to share her story.

Her work as an Artist and Designer has been recognized by the American Craft Council in New York. Garcia-Gomez’s work has been profiled in Cap Times in Madison, Wisconisn; American Craft Magazine and Siempre Mujer in New York; the Star Tribune, Vita.MN, and Minnesota Monthly in Minneapolis; and internationally in Air France Magazine, as well as other prestigious institutions and publications

ALEXANDRA ARANGO

Alexandra Arango graduated with a degree in architecture from UPB Medellín and EN—SAPB in Paris. She then studied at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Her works in the public space resulted from collaborations with various contemporary art centers and public institutions such as La Terrasse Espace d’Art in Nanterre, The French Institute, The Venice Biennale of Architecture, and the Banque de France.

Alexandra Arango’s universe is comprised of memories, sentiments, and intimate emotions. Her birthplace, Colombia, is a significant source of inspiration for her creative energy. In each of her works, Arango invites us to look beyond the simplicity of appearance and delve more deeply into the story being told: an apparently phantasmagoric universe of extravagant flora and fauna. What seems to be a call to reverie conceals a different reality: the ambiguity of beings, their “animality,” and the sometimes-tragic interplay between nature and those who inhabit it.

Arango’s work addresses her past sentiments, linked to the conflicts that ravaged her homeland, and her existential concerns. Her wounds give life to a world marked by a constant tension between the sublime and the grotesque, nature and danger, beauty and death, noise and solitude. Yet, there is also much optimism in her work. Her pencils, brushes, and colors are her lifelines to a world of dreams where she—as well as the viewer—can find solace.

CLARA RAMIREZ-KATZ

Clara Ramirez-Katz was born in Medellín, Colombia. She has lived and worked in her home studio in Paris since 1979.

She studied textile design at the École Supérieure des Arts Appliqués et Métiers de l'Art (ENSAAMA) in 1983. subsequently She obtained her undergraduate degree in fashion design at the École supérieure des arts et techniques de la mode (ESMOD), Paris in 1985. Thereafter, Ramirez-Katz joined two painting academies:

the Pont Royal school (1989-90) and the Saint Roch Academy (1991-96), the latter of which was founded and directed by painter and engraver Jean Bertholle. His work and mentorship significantly impacted the path Ramirez- Katz would take in her artistic exploration.

Ramirez-Katz mixes different media and techniques and finds her inspiration in global landscapes, such as China's "celestial mountains," the minerality of Mediterranean topography, and the vitality of the Andes. To add depth and texture to her pieces, Ramirez-Katz uses a mixture of casein—a milk protein—with solid oil.

After exhibiting her work on the walls of the headquarters of a local magazine, L'Evénement du Jeudi, she attracted the interest of Le Breton gallery in Paris. It was there that she had her first exhibition in 1995. Le Breton gallery represented Ramirez-Katz for seven years and showed her work on several occasions. Ramírez-Katz’s subsequent time with the Lavignes Bastille Gallery (2005 and 2009) resulted in selection by the prestigious Salon de Montrouge of her work Montaña 1, in which the artist explores her memories of the immense mountains of her native Medellín.

Since 2009, the Couteron Gallery, in Paris, has supported Ramirez-Katz’s artistic work, with seven solo shows and group exhibitions. The most recent show, Monde/Miroir (World/Mirror), took place in 2020 and offered a representative overview of several recent series of works, resulting in a panorama of the artist's career.

POWERPAOLA

Powerpaola was born in Quito, Ecuador, and grew up in Cali and Medellín, Colombia. A visual artist, comic author and illustrator, she has published the memoirs Virus Tropical (2011), Por Dentro (2012), Diario (2013), qp (2014), Todo va a estar bien (2015), and Nos vamos (2016).

Powerpaola's work is autobiographical. Through captivating narrative, she shares with the public details about her daily life, while addressing the themes of sexuality, feminism, family, and personal identity. With a poetic approach, she urges us to observe a soul that undresses in the countenance of quotidian routines and rituals. As in a hyperbolic mirror, the spectator—like the artist—faces the extraordinary complexities of being a lover, a friend, a sibling, or simply being alive today.

Paola’s inventive autofiction reveals everything to her audience—almost. Her graphic stories are woven with lines, pictorial gestures, and emotional dialogues rich in exquisite detail. She invites us to share, through her childhood memories in Ecuador and Colombia, the gaze of a woman whose existential attempts to understand love are projected through the lens of her strong political opinions.

She started drawing comics at age twenty-seven to entertain herself and document her life while working in a kitchen in Sydney. She initially self-published her comics on Flickr and as print zines. In 2011, the Argentinian firm Editorial Comun published Virus Tropical, Paola's graphic novel memoir about growing up as a rebellious daughter in a conservative Colombian family that was dominated by strong women.

Virus Tropical, was adapted into an animated film of the same name in 2017, directed by Santiago Caicedo.