About the artist:

Evelyn López de Guzmán was born and educated in New York City. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Hunter College where she majored in Art and Education. Her abstract paintings are full of color and movement. She believes that the originality and exuberance of her paintings lie in her ability at improvisation. Ms. López de Guzmán draws her inspirations from the shapes and objects surrounding and affecting all of us. Her paintings are created in spherical, rectangular and shaped formats; they hold a strong vibrancy and movement of their own. Although her original abstract design concepts begin as very clear, simple, but precise line drawings, the final products are intricate paintings. She energizes her paintings through her interesting use of tactile materials, color and enhanced through the use of textures. Although most of her paintings are abstract, her paintings are devoid of any standard set of psychological references. Her main goal is to awaken and stimulate some inner feelings in the viewer and in some way to connect with nature and the modern world around us. Common in all her paintings is an energy that emits from them and envelopes the viewer in a world of their own. Studies: • M.A. -Art/Education, Hunter College of the City University of New York • B.A. -Fine Arts, Hunter College of the City University of New York • Pratt Institute, classes in Painting and Advertising • Parson School of Design, classes in Painting Evelyn Lopez de Guzman executes her vibrant abstracts with lyrical delicacy all her own. A rainbow of vibrant, pulsating colors and moving energetic interlocking forms is what is in store for the viewer of her paintings. Her abstract paintings are full of intense color and movement which she attributes to being Hispanic and having an intense feeling for color and rhythm. Her paintings are a result of her physical and emotional surroundings. She draws her inspiration from the shapes and objects surrounding and affecting all of us daily. The painter is concerned with creating an art statement devoid of perceptual burdens. They are abstractions devoid of any standard set of psychological references except those of the observer. Lopez de Guzman’s range of color is extraordinary, from richly keyed up color, to subtle softer ones which combined with areas of textured surfaces occasionally create and aura of mystery and illusions. This latter effect is a helpful one for it reminds the viewer that the paintings do indeed have a purpose, that is, they are intended to engage the eye. The viewer’s eye moves with the elements in the paintings. The variations contained in each work be it line, color or tactile material, draw the eye over the surface of the canvas or into the intricate spaces between the lines and shapes. Occasionally the design becomes so complex that one has the sense of seeing behind the shapes another illusion, this one a quietly dazzling one. It is said that painters are lured towards heroics through the use of all over abstraction. Many of Evelyn Lopez de Guzman’s paintings contain all over patterning, yet she successfully avoids the difficulties of her style. Her paintings are covered with moving rhythmic forms but the artist is guided with the notion of achieving a balance of form, color, and varying thicknesses of texture and materials used particular to each work. Sometimes the forms and textures are contained within the shaped canvas; sometimes they are an integral part of the design itself. The artist enjoys working with the shape of her canvases when composing her work. Her work begins as simple line drawing which when transferred onto the canvas take on an intricate life of its own. The paintings are carefully rendered; the separations between these hard-edged shape spaces are accomplished by the use of masking tape. In some of her harder edged paintings, playful geometric optical illusions create excursions into fanciful spaces that do maintain the integrity of the picture plane. Ms. Guzman uses intervals between shapes that create more dimensional visual effects than do most "hard-edge” painters, who normally paint dominant shapes edge to edge without any interval.Ms. Lopez de Guzman is a native New Yorker and received both her B.A. and M.A. from Hunter College in New York. She majored in Art and Education. Ms. Guzman has had numerous one woman shows as well as participated in many group shows. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Museo del Barrio and her painting and prints are hang in U.S. Embassies. She is in Who’s Who in American Art, Who’s Who in Women’s Art and several other publications.