Teresa Burga's first solo museum exhibition in the United States presents works dating from the 1960s to today. Burga was an active figure in the avant-garde art scene in Lima, Peru, which was effectively shut down under the political regime of the 1970s. Her work has regained prominence in recent years with renewed attention given to Burga's investigation into social roles within Peru. Burga has a humorous pop sensibility through which she articulates a critical relationship between femininity and childishness in opposition to historically masculine associations with artistic authorship.
The title of Burga's exhibition comes from a series of drawings previously shown in the group exhibition at SculptureCenter in 2014, Puddle, Pothole, Portal. The drawings were of a "badly drawn hand," a proposal for a series of metal sculptures of the artist's hand in different positions. Since then, Burga has completed the series of 9 sculptures proposed in her earlier drawings, which are presented for the first time in their entirety at SculptureCenter. In addition, Burga is exhibiting her Prismas series of sculptures and drawings comprised of modular graphic images that suggest the reordering of meaning. The exhibition also includes other works based on Burga's interest in games and signs.
Teresa Burga (born 1935 in Iquitos, Peru; lives and works in Lima) is a pioneer of multimedia and conceptual art in Peru. She studied in Lima before attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a Fulbright scholar. Recent solo shows include Teresa Burga, Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlin (2015); Teresa Burga: Air Structures, MALBA, Buenos Aires (2015); and Profile of the Peruvian Woman (1980-1981), Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, Mexico City (2014). Significant group exhibitions include The World Goes Pop, Tate Modern, London (2015); and WOMAN: The Feminist Avant-Garde from the 1970s, Works from the SAMMLUNG VERBUND, Vienna, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg (2014). Her work was featured in All the World's Futures at the 56th Venice Biennale (2015). Burga was included in the group show Puddle, pothole, portal at SculptureCenter, Long Island City in 2014-15.
Teresa Burga: Mano Mal Dibujada is curated by SculptureCenter curator Ruba Katrib and is accompanied by a color publication with essays by Katrib and Miguel Lopez, Chief Curator of TEOR/éTica, San José, Costa Rica. View the catalog online below or purchase a copy from SculptureCenter's store.