Christine Averill-Green

"Meditation, " Abstract Portrait Painting

2022

In "Into Thin Air", a landscape dissolves into atmosphere, memory, and color. With richly textured layers of oil and collage, the artist constructs a fragmented vista where geometry ...

This contemporary abstract painting by Teodora Guererra features a bright blue palette. The artist applies thick layers of oil paint in sweeping strokes for a highly textured painting that moves from a deep shade of blue at the bottom of the composition and becomes lighter as the paint is applied at the top. The painting is signed by the artist on the back of the gallery wrapped canvas, and it is wired and ready to hang. Teodora Guererra’s abstract artistic vision has evolved throughout her years spent painting and teaching in Fairfield County, Connecticut; Tucson, Arizona, and upstate New York. Arizona’s naturally radiant landscape and arid climate led her to experiment with rich under-painting and vivid color; while the shifting seasons of the East Coast inspired Guererra to pursue dripping and staining techniques. Her focus has always been pushing the limits through experimentation with new materials. “As an artist, painting can be tormenting and sublime at the same time," the artist says of her work. "I'm a big risk taker, experimenting with different materials to layer, stain and saturate color on large canvases. My most successful work looks as if it happened all at once. It sometimes takes 7 or more paintings to produce a successful one and then it's a beautiful thing." Guererra received her undergraduate and graduate Art degrees from Southern Connecticut University, The College of Saint Rose and Skidmore College. Guererra’s paintings can be found in public and private collections across the U.S., including the Allmen Health and Wellness Center for Women in New York and SUNY Brockport, NY, William & Sonoma, San Francisco, CA. Her influences are Pat Steir, John McCracken, Helen Frankenthaler, Donald Jud, Bernar Venet, Agnes Martin and Brian Rutenberg...