A Studio in the Gallery: The Playful Universe of Ignacio Iturria

A Studio in the Gallery: The Playful Universe of Ignacio Iturria is a retrospective of one of Uruguay’s most accomplished artists including forty paintings of small theatrical stages that examine society and present an amusing and hopeful view of the world. The artist will be in residence during October and November to collaborate with Purchase College students.

Born in Montevideo, Ignacio Iturria is one of Uruguay’s most accomplished artists, having represented his country at the Venice Biennale in 1995. For more than four decades, the artist has examined society in a profound and poetic manner, creating work that invites us to view the world with amusement and hope. In his small theatrical stages filled with whimsical people and animals, Iturria creates universes inside of which he transforms found objects and uses trompe-l’oeil effects to play with viewers’ perceptions. Approximately forty such paintings are the focus of the first part of the exhibition, A Studio in the Gallery: The Playful Universe of Ignacio Iturria, a retrospective illustrating key moments in the artist’s trajectory. The second part of the exhibition features a living studio in which the artist will work in collaboration with Purchase College students during a two-month residency. The new works created during this collaboration will be added to the retrospective as they are completed. During the course of the residency, visitors will be invited to enter the space and meet the artist.

A Studio in the Gallery: The Playful Universe of Ignacio Iturria is organized by the Neuberger Museum of Art, Purchase College, State University of New York, and curated by Patrice Giasson, the Alex Gordon Curator of Art of the Americas, with the curatorial assistance of Marianelly Neumann. Generous support for this project is provided by the Alex Gordon Estate, Purchase College School of the Arts, the Friends of the Neuberger Museum of Art, the Ministry of Education and Culture of Uruguay, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, the Consulate General of Uruguay in New York, Eugenio and Krytzia Minvielle, and by the Purchase College Foundation.