Brooklyn Rail on Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo
Brooklyn Rail on Feliciano Centurión: Abrigo
"Centurión’s work resonates deeply, proffering both courageous perspective and tender wisdom," writes Susan Breyer about Americas Society Visual Arts' exhibition Abrigo.
Que en nuestras almas no entre el terror (May fear not enter our souls)
In 1992, Paraguayan artist Feliciano Centurión (1962–1996) used cherry-red yarn to embroider this phrase on a small rectangle of white cloth. The same red yarn trims the interior curves of the rectangle’s orange pinstripe border. The embroidered cloth floats within a larger swatch of woolly, charcoal textile, itself bordered by thick, sewn strips of red fabric. Together, these concentric frames signal an effort to protect the sentiment within—much as cellular membranes fight to maintain the integrity of the vital materials they harbor.
Three decades later—with incertitude, anxiety, and illness permeating each day—Centurión’s work resonates deeply, proffering both courageous perspective and tender wisdom. Abrigo, Centurión’s first solo exhibition in a United States institution, opened in February at the Americas Society Art Gallery, curated by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro. While the gallery is currently closed, one can access a virtual tour, the exhibition catalogue, and an accompanying documentary on the Americas Society’s website...
