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Isabel Bacardit

Painter

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Biographical Notes

Poblenou - Barcelona - 1960.

She starts her artistic education at the "Escuela de Arte de Poblenou" with the teacher Miquel Simó and later in the "Escola d’Arts Aplicades i Oficis Artístics (Llotja)" in Barcelona.

Starting as an abstarct painter, she paints on materials she finds in the street: cardboard, wood, etc. Inspired by urban images, she paints using pigments mixed with sawdust and paper-paste to achieve densities and textures. Her compositions are based on primary colors.

In 1984 she is selected for the Fifth Biennale of Barcelona - Young Contemporany Painting. In 1985 she takes part in the First Exhibition of Young Art in Madrid and in the First Biennale of Young Cultural Productions of the European Mediterranean. In 1986 she is again selected for the Second Exhibition of Young Art in Madrid.

Due to the unexpected death of her partner, the painter Xavier Vidal i Banchs in 1984, Bacardit changes the theme of her work, taking inspiration now from the accidental changes of life. She creates a series of works based on The Disasters of War by Goya and paints inspiring herself from photographs of accidents taken from newspapers. She also changes her palette, turning to dark and earthy colours.

In 1986, due to the preparation works for the 1992 Olympic Games, her paintings reflect the transformation of Barcelona, taking machines and excavators as her main motives.

In 1987, she illustrates the poem Helicón by Bruno Montané Krebs. She travels to Berlin , where she resides for a year. Here her themes are the signs of war, still visible on the buildings in the divided city. She exhibits in the gallery Vendemmia with the title “This is my Silence”.

In 1988 he moves to Mallorca , where she comes in contact with the theatre works of the Polish author Tadeusz Kantor. She creates the portfolio “The right to live in peace”, with paintings inspired by the theatre of death of this author.

In 1989, she takes up residence in Santa Coloma de Farnés (Girona). In the midst of nature she changes her themes dramatically. Her work finds inspiration in the landscape, light and silence. She leaves her work on the theme of death, with its dense materiality, behind, moving towards watercolours and transparencies.

In 1990 she lives in Rio de Janeiro , where she works with Organisations for the welfare of street children, gives painting classes and establishes her studio in the gallery Maria Teresa Vieira. In Salvador de Bahia she exhibits a series of erotic drawings at the University of Fine Arts

She arribes to Chile in 1991. She exhibits in the gallery Buchi in Santiago de Chile and lives in Valparaiso . She collaborates with various artists: Edgard del Canto (painter), Alma Martinoia (painter), Ivo Vergara (painter), Cristina Correa (painter), Teresa Olivera (actress), Hernan Varela (stained glass artist) y Víctor Barrientos Ormazábal (actor and theatre director). With them she founds the theatre company “Theatre only for Lunatics”.

She begins her series “Earth, Air, Water and Fire”. On request of the cultural centre Las Condes de Santiago de Chile she builds a large scale sculpture out of papier-mâché and acrylics: “Bird Woman” which is dedicated to the flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya. For the theatre company “Theatre of Silence” she creates the life size puppets of the play “Taca taca mon amour” by Mauricio Celedón. She creates the installation “My little worlds” using shoe-boxes and objects found on the beach.

She returns to Barcelona in 1994. She abandons abstract painting and returns to the figurative. In this period stand out:

  • The installation “Since ever, until when, since ever” for the “Meeting of Street Artists” in Granada.

  • An Exhibition in the civic centre Can Felipa with the collective “Art by Women”, with works based on the theme of the female reproductive organs and birth.

  • Instalation "Zapatería Zapata" (Shoe-house Zapata)
  • Poetic-musical actions with Lucho Hermosillo, Steven Forster and Gaspar Lucas with the poem Altazor by Vicente Huidobro.

In 1996 she travels to Mexico . She meets Ofelia Medina and makes contact with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, where she becomes strongly influenced by elements of indigenous symbolism and spirituality.

In 1997 she returns to Barcelona . In collaboration with Primitiva Reverter, Judit Bacardit, Montserrat Baqués, Mercè Candó, Caty Fernández and Aina Reverter she initiates the publication of the magazine Adiosas. With the same artists she exhibits in the gallery Espai22@.

In 1998 she works with the Dutch travelling theatre company “Azart Ship of Fools”. She travels and acts on the boat of the company and creates masks and part of the costumes for the work The Pilgrim at the End of the World.

In 1999 she establishes herself in Vilarnadal (Girona), where she lives for six years in an old mill. She paints and cultivates the earth. In 2002 she exhibits, together with her sister, the sculptor Judit Bacardit, in the information centre of the Parc dels Aiguamolls de l'Emporda and in the exhibition rooms of the Caixa Girona in Roses. In 2003 they exhibit again at this location. She participates in the European meeting of woman artists “In Via” in Switzerland .

In 2004 she creates the stage design and decorations for the programme “The Ship of Fools” for the local television in Amsterdam.

In 2005 she leaves Vilarnadal and between 2005 and 2008 she resides alternately in Lliurona (Alta Garrotxa), L'Escala (Alt Empordà) and Barcelona. In Lliurona she paints murals for the public school and paints the doors of all the houses in the village. In Barcelona, for a short time, she sets her study in the Poblenou in the space "Camí de l'Inca".

In 2009 she set up her studio in Poblenou (Barcelona).

She went back to Mexico in 2012 to continue her collaboration with indigenous communities.

In 2013 she set up her current studio in Putxet neighborhood of Barcelona (6, Roca i Batlle street), where she starts the collection "Together We Can" for the exhibition at the Cultural Center "La Farinera" Barcelona.

 


 
 
 

Street activity, Early 80s

Poblenou (Barcelona)
Early 80s:

Street activity.

 

In her studio, 1986

Barcelona 1986:
In her studio.
Foto from the catalogue from the Exhibition of Young Art (Madrid)

 

In Berlin, 1987

Berlin 1987:
Isabel Bacardit (center) with Judit Bacardit and other friends

 

In teh countryside house

Santa Coloma de Farnés (Girona) 1989:
In the countryside house

 

Working on the sculpture "Bird-Woman"

Santiago de Chile 1993:
Working on the sculpture "Bird-Woman"

 

Isabel in her berth

The Azart Ship of Fools 1999:
Isabel in her berth

 

Studio of the Molí d'en Ferreró

Vilarnadal (Girona) 2000:
Studio of the Molí d'en Ferreró

 

In the studio in Poblenou

Barcelona 2005:
In the studio in Poblenou

 
Madrid 2009

Madrid 2009

   

 

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