Nicolás Guagnini’s new drawings, made at home during self-isolation in spring 2020, are deeply personal meditations on the global COVID-19 pandemic. Verging on automatic, Guagnini sees these drawings as something that “came out of [him],” as if compelled by an alien organism stored within the self. The images incorporate his longtime interests in the grotesque and ornamental, and he describes them as “scientific illustrations on acid.” Allowing his hand to go in one direction and his mind to float freely, the forms that emerged are arabesque profiles surrounded by complex color gradations and defined with subtle line.
Nicolás Guagnini
Virus / Chromosome, 2020
Graphite and color pencil
Artwork: 12 x 9 in (30.5 x 22.9cm)
NG9587
Nicolás Guagnini
Medium Viral Load, 2020
Graphite and color pencil
Artwork: 12 x 9 in (30.5 x 22.9cm)
NG9588
Nicolás Guagnini
Asymptomatic, 2020
Graphite and color pencil
Artwork: 12 x 9 in (30.5 x 22.9cm)
NG9589