© OKV Tijdschrijft & Saskia Vanderstichele
Cecilia Jaime has a universal interest in landscape. With roots in Argentina, family in Switzerland and a gallery in Ghent, where she represents local and foreign artists, the artist constantly moves between cultures. From this transcultural perspective, Jaime gets to work with various sites that she herself visited or knows through photos, videos and/or stories. Her oeuvre extends from Argentine and Flemish landscapes to hidden placesin Burgundy and Lombardy.
Jaime hardly paints ‘en plein air’. According to the artist, you have to stay somewhere for several days to be able to paint a place on canvas in situ. Not obvious when you, as an artist, are looking for landscapes that people cannot easily access or do not dwell on. These “superfluous images of the world” do make the difference for Jaime. After finding a specific place, Jaime retreats to her studio. Here she starts from the impression that the place in question left on her. The painted landscape grows out of the artist’s experience, memory and emotion and is thus internalized. When we stand in front of a landscape by Jaime, we do not see a tangible place from reality, but an inner representation that consists of several layers. Red tonalities reflects the morning sun and reflects the spirit of a new day. Huge green ferns indicate tropical plants and are reminiscent of the lethargy caused by the heat. Small planes are absorbed in the grandeur of nature and at the same time represent the prominent presence of humans.
Cecilia Jaime creates landscapes that are colored by her own cultural baggage, technique and perception. Moreover, she does not keep these scenes to herself, but shares them with us so that we too can get to know her refreshing view of the world.
Written by Ine Engels & Cecilia Jaime
Cecilia Jaime (1962) is an Argentinian – Belgian visual artist based in Ghent, Belgium. She has a long experience in the Fine Arts, especially in Contemporary Art.
She graduated in the Master in Fine Arts, with specialization in Painting , by the Faculty of Arts, at the University of Tucumán, Argentina, in 1987. From 1985 to 1987 she was an assistant lecturer in the Faculty of Art at the same University. In 1988 she received the prestigious Grant from the National Arts Funds in Buenos Aires. From 2012 she runs Cecilia Jaime Gallery in Gent, Belgium and is art consultant for important collections.
Since 1989 she lives in Belgium. In de period of 2003-2006 she worked in a social artistic project: “Scratch”, from the Fine Arts Museum in Ghent. She also gave workshops at S.M.A.K. (Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst- Municipal Museum of Contemporary Art),Ghent. She has given Master classes in painting and drawing in Ghent (2006-2009). From 2006 till today she is a resident artist at Nucleo vzw ( Belgium). From 2008 she follows the Sculpture specialty at the Academie voor Beeldende Kunst in Ghent, Belgium. She also has been a consultant artist for the architects studio of Bob Van Reeth, in 2010 and 2014. She has presented her work in numerous international projects in Latin America and Europe: group exhibitions, solo shows, art fairs, in several cultural centers, museums, events and public spaces. Her Works are in collections in Argentina, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Germany.
Her video-performance ‘Desierto de los olvidos’ was presented at the LAKMA Museum, in The Netherlands (2011). She has shown her works in an installation with photography, sculptures, video and paintings, ‘Stills and Movements’, at the Caermersklooster in Ghent.
