Although very well established in Europe, Chilean-born, Berlin-based Vásquez de la Horra is still being discovered by collectors on this side of the Atlantic, but her base here is growing: Four American visitors to this show's opening who has not heard of the artist purchased works on the spot. In the very first days of the exhibition, whose title translates to "Between Heaven and Earth," nearly half of the 91 wax-dipped graphite drawings, priced between $2,000 and $12,000, were sold. The drawings feature texts, magical underworld demons, and reptilian femail nudes in quasispiritual, political, and intensely personal narratives that over the years have formed a kind of intricate, fragmented folklore. The gallery has previously sold to many European collections, including Centre Pompidou, in Paris, which had acquired no fewer than 30 drawings from the gallery. (The Guerlain Foundation has since donated an additional large group, bringing the museum's total to nearly 100.) Immediately after the artist's participation in the Sao Paulo Bienal, still more museums came forward to purchase small groups of drawings.
March 27, 2013
