All Eyes On: Miré Albornoz

Miré Albornoz (b. Paris, France) is best known for vibrant geometric abstract collages & acrylic paintings. The works focus on pure geometric form, with its two-dimensional flatness & use of color as an integral part of expression. Miré’s practice is both additive & reductive, a process which the collage medium facilitates which is then transposed onto canvas. She received her art education at many different institutions, among them the University of Toronto and the University of Siena, Italy. Miré’s childhood was largely nomadic, and she likes to think that her travels had a big influence on her style & content. Her work was exhibited at the Toronto Art Expo, Propeller Gallery, The Justina M. Barnick Gallery and Camelback Gallery, Arizona. Her works are held in private collections in Canada, US, Spain and Italy. Miré lives and works in Toronto.

***Summer on the hill,*** 2021
Analogue collage, 36″ x 20″

“Summer on the hill” is a collage that is representative of North America’s historical landscape and explores the idea of layers of history or conglomeration of structures within a city over time. It was inspired by historical images of the artist’s city skyline, by the integration of historical industrial buildings into the modern-day urban landscape. The artwork conveys the idea that a certain order can result from the coexistence of differences, a Compositional balance from a juxtaposition of many different elements and cultures. It is not a negative evaluation of modern-day society so much as a celebration of a vibrant city composed of drastic differences co-existing harmoniously. There is no better example than to sit at the hill (Riverdale Hill in Toronto) on a warm summer evening.

***Yesterday,*** 2021
Analogue collage, 36″ x 20″

‘Yesterday” was inspired by a childhood memory of a place I called home, a fishing village by the Mediterranean Sea. With a nomadic childhood, the place I would sometimes return to was called “home” and carried all the more weight. The focus of the work is to represent this memory abstractly, while exploring colour and composition and continuing the exploration of reducing elements within the composition, the co-existence of opposing elements and ensuing harmony, symbolic of the human fabric at its best.

The sea has been important in my life, in the places I have lived and travelled to as a child and as an adult, it has come to represent freedom but also physical instability. My recurring dreams of being on the water, even to this day, continue to express a subconscious preoccupation with stability and permanence, as is a common effect of emigrating.

***The Air I breathe,*** 2021
Analogue Collage, 11″ x 17″

‘The Air That I Breathe’ is an exploration of voice, expression, and the importance of the arts in carrying out the task of expressing your truth when you were not given the words. This piece depicts the defiance and the unifying effect of music and art within an oftentimes chaotic and divisive world. The artwork is autobiographical; the figure is depicted as static, with physical aids meant to represent a lifetime of physical
limitations of living with a lifelong disease; with a voice that exists disconnected from her person meant to represent the silencing that occurs in the isolation of constantly moving countries and having no siblings, of living only among adults of different generations, (my grandmother whom I was close to was born in 1891), but surrounded by music (arts) that provides clarity of thought and the impetus for healing.

Music is depicted in the space around the figure, shapes reminiscent of musical symbols and the pipe organ. I was fortunate to have a concert pianist grandmother and musical parents, who played an instrument every day by which I would usually paint. The arts saved me. It was my principal comfort.

The technical exploration continues within the collage series. The juxtaposition of the lyrical curve and the hard edge of the linear angles. The contrasting colours and shades. The vision of this piece is one that I intend to follow in upcoming works

Artist Statement

MAKING THIS SERIES OF WORKS WAS PURE JOY FOR ME. TO HAVE VENTURED AWAY FROM PURELY REPRESENTATIONAL ART INTO WHAT CONTINUES TO EVOLVE HAS TAKEN PERSONAL COURAGE. THROUGH THESE COLLAGES I AM EXPLORING THE REDUCTION OF ELEMENTS INTO A TWO-DIMENSIONAL STRUCTURE THAT WILL CARRY ITS OWN WEIGHT THROUGH COLOR AND COMPOSITION. MY WORK IS CHARACTERIZED BY BRIGHT COLOR SCHEMES AND CONTRASTING LIGHT. I TRY TO CAPTURE A TENSION BETWEEN VARIOUS COMPOSITIONAL PARTS, BETWEEN MATHEMATICALLY DERIVED FORMS AND MORE LYRICAL SHAPES WHILE CONVEYING DIFFERENT THEMES.

EACH OF MY WORKS REFLECTS A DIFFERENT PREOCCUPATION, COMMUNICATING SPECIFIC THOUGHTS AROUND WHICH THE PIECES WERE CREATED. SOME ARE COMPOSITIONAL STUDIES BUT MOST ARE BIOGRAPHICAL IN NATURE, OFTEN WITHIN A SOCIO-POLITICAL FRAMEWORK. MUCH OF MY ART EXPLORES THE EFFECTS OF EMIGRATING AND RESETTLING IN A DIFFERENT CULTURE. SOME IS A RETURN TO WHAT I LEFT BEHIND. I AM VERY INTERESTED IN THE PSYCHOLOGICAL RAMIFICATIONS WITHIN EACH IMMIGRANT AGE GROUP, AND THE WAYS IN WHICH FAMILY DYNAMICS CHANGE AS A RESULT. I AM EXPLORING FACTORS THAT AFFECT EMOTIONAL INTEGRATION. I THINK IN ONE WAY OR ANOTHER MOST OF MY ART ORIGINATES FROM THIS THEME SINCE IN A WAY MOST OF MY LIFE FOLLOWS SUIT.

I WOULD SAY THAT THE INITIAL INSPIRATION FOR MY STYLE BEGAN SUBCONSCIOUSLY WITH MY EXPOSURE TO STAINED GLASS, GEOMETRIC ISLAMIC TILES, CUBIST AND SURREALIST ART OF SOUTHERN SPAIN, & SUBSEQUENTLY WITH MY FORMAL STUDIES IN ARCHITECTURE AND FINE ARTS. I FEEL AS IF FINDING THE BALANCE OF AN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN AND WHAT I’M CURRENTLY WORKING ON IS AN EXTENSION OF ONE ANOTHER. THE LIST OF ARTISTS THAT HAVE FASCINATED ME OVER THE YEARS IS LONG, BUT INCLUDES FERNAND LÈGER, EGON SCHIELE, JACOB LAWRENCE, PABLO PICASSO, HENRI MATISSE, RICHARD DIEBENKORN, MAYNARD DIXON AND SO ON.

MY HOPE IS TO SPARK AN EMOTIONAL RECOGNITION IN THE VIEWER, AN AUTHENTICITY, A NAIVE VISUAL MEMORY AND AN INQUISITIVE NEED TO KNOW MORE. MY INTENTION IS TO COMMUNICATE A UNIVERSAL VISUAL LANGUAGE THAT WILL TRANSCEND THE BARRIERS BETWEEN ART AND PEOPLE.

Get in touch
with Miré

https://www.mirealbornoz.com/
Instagram: @mirealbornoz

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