Material Art Fair: Mexico City

For the 2023 edition of Material Art Fair, Thierry Goldberg is pleased to present works by Filip Bacławski, Carlo D’Anselmi, Francisco G. Pinzón Samper, Alex Puz, Natalie Terenzini, and Ana Villagomez.  

Taking to portraiture as a form of diary keeping, Filip Bacławski’s drawings relish in the simplicity of day-to-day moments. Embolden by vibrant hues and inventive patterns Bacławski’s golden-hued figures are often situated alone engaged in deep moments of contemplation. Utlizinging the face as the starting point for his compositions, Bacławski allows the features and expressions of his figures to dictate each drawing's overall disposition. There is a sense of closeness exuded by each portrait, a quiet absorption that aches with the intimacy of a relationship built over time. Relying on this sense of proximity, Bacławski’s works weave together the meaningful often ordinary moments that forge a sense of companionship and connection.

Carlo D’Anselmi uses vibrant swaths of rich hues and focused lighting to create dramatic environments that highlight the tension between humanity and the natural world. Held within the precipice of reality, his figures appear in a dreamlike state, absorbed in their thoughts or actions. Plants and animals move freely throughout his compositions, often encircling his figures and lending to moments that simmer with tension. D’Anselmi’s works exhibit a colorful uncertainty that shifts between instances of inwardness and exposure. D’Anselmi revels in these moments, deliberately blurring the lines between harmony and dissonance, performance and reality, captivity and freedom.

Alex Puz creates compositions that palpitate with static vibration. Puz builds up the surface of his works with a series of systematically stacked lines and controlled color gradients. Working between timing and touch, Puz engages new layers of paint in displaced arrangements, generating compositions that seem to shimmer, billow and flow. Puz’s works are precise, yet organic, the subtle twist of a line or a break in the preordained pattern creates indispensable moments of openness and pause. Puz’s amplified effects of minute movement, though constrained by predetermined limitations, produce randomized ripples of uninhibited forms that lure the eye into unexpected places.

Oscillating among personal, wistful, and spiritual relationships, Francisco G. Pinzón Samper paints vibrant portraits that relish in serendipity. Sampling indiscriminately from everyday life, Pinzón Samper renders each portrait unique through an amalgamation of design motifs, color, and form. Pinzón Samper’s figures come across as vivacious each disparate personality transcribed through body positioning, hand gestures, and broad splashes of color. There is a sense of blatant honesty exposed in Pinzón Samper's work, a deep commitment to rendering intimate moments that beckon the viewer into an exchange. Through these interchanges, Pinzón Samper subtly unveils the essence of their characters creating an approachable visual milieu of community, connection, and identity.

Playing with modes of perception, Natalie Terenzini seeks to upend expected depictions of femininity in favor of displaying authenticity over fantasy. Pairing cartoon-like illustrations with highly saturated pigment-rich colors, Terenzini presents a light-hearted illusory environment that simultaneously divulges a pock-marked reality. Her subject, an alter ego of herself, is often presented alone, lost among her thoughts, even when accompanied. As she moves through each composition, she engages in intimate acts that slowly unveil her uncensored character. Terenzini’s candy-colored pallet effortlessly captivates the viewer, luring them unbeknownst into the unsightly fodder of her subject's reality creating instances that vacillate among intrusion, bewilderment, and self-discovery. 

Ana Villagomez deeply engages with aspects of time, memory, and displacement. Villagomez covers her canvases in a series of preliminary layers that are then rubbed, peeled, sanded, scrubbed, and subdued by water. Each act of masking and erasure both hides and reveals facets of the works history. Villagómez delights in the disintegration of her layers gradually 

pulling images and forms to the surface of her works. Teetering between the active process of construction and excavation Villagómez imbues her paintings with a sense of motion and depth. There is a topographical quality to Villagómez’s work, a sense that her densely packed colors and forms are the result of cultivation and reverence for what has come before. 

Ana Villagómez (b. 1991, Houston, TX) lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. She holds an MFA from Hunter College and a BFA from the University of Houston. She has had recent exhibitions at x Galeria 1204, New York, NY; Seasons LA, Los Angeles, CA; SUNNY NY, New York, NY; and Bradley Ertaskiran, Montreal, QC. 

Natalie Terenzini (b. 1996 San Diego, California) lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She holds an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and BFA from the Laguna College of Art + Design. Terenzini has had a solo exhibition with Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY and has participated in group exhibitions at pm/am Gallery, London, UK; Monya Rowe, New York, NY; Vin Vin, Vienna Austria; and LIA programme, Leipzig Germany, among others.

Francisco G. Pinzón Samper (b. 1997, Bogota, Colombia) lives and works in Paris, France. He is currently studying at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Pinzón Samper’s work has been exhibited with Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY;  Delphian Gallery, London, UK and Galerie l'inlassable, Paris, France.

Alex Puz (b. 1989, Long Beach, CA) lives and works in New Haven, CT. He holds an MFA in Painting/Printmaking from Yale School of Art and a BFA in Studio Art from Hunter College. Puz has had a solo exhibition at the Jennifer Terzian Gallery, Litchfield, CT. His work has been featured in group exhibitions at Jeffrey Deitch, New York, NY; MOCA Westport, Westport, CT; Underdonk, Brooklyn, NY; and MOMA PS1, Queens, NY, among others.

Carlo D’Anselmi (b. 1991, New York, NY) lives and works in Ridgewood, Queens. He holds an MFA in Painting from The New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting & Sculpture, New York, NY and a BA from Saint Anselm College, Manchester, NH. D’Anselmi has an upcoming solo exhibition at Art Asia Center and has had pervious solo exhibitions at Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY; The Cabin, Los Angeles, CA; and Pamela Salisbury Gallery, Hudson, New York. D’Anselmi has participated in group exhibitions at Kutlesa Gallery, Arjh, Switzerland; Asia Art Center, Taipei, Taiwan; 11 Newal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY; Eve Leibe Gallery, London, UK; Prior Art Space, Berlin, Germany; Kravets Wehby Gallery, New York, NY; Monya Rowe Gallery, New York, NY; Galerie Kornfeld, Berlin, Germany; Auxier Kline, New York, NY; Danese/Corey, New York, NY; ROOM Artspace, Brooklyn, NY; and The Painting Center, New York, NY among others.

Filip Bacławski (b. 2000 Chojnice, Poland) lives and works in Poznań, Poland. Filip has had a solo online presentation with Thierry Goldberg Gallery.