Rimer Cardillo (Uruguayan, b.1944), Insect Stage Set Series, 1973-74, Series of 20 digital charcoal pigment prints on paper
Rimer Cardillo … and the deep ecology of a sacred nature
Apr 19, 2024 – Aug 25, 2024
Environmental issues (and how they are affected by real politics and economic factors) are a principle focus of Rimer Cardillo’s works since the late 1970s. Throughout the 1980s, Cardillo’s art directly confronts the loss of animal species and the destruction of plant life. Such pressing ecological concerns — latent in Cardillo’s work since the 1960s — increasingly guide the artist’s creative endeavors and become a central theme in his work over the coming decades. Cardillo’s art asserts that the systemic genocide of Aboriginal peoples is inseparable from other forms of loss – whether the destruction of natural habitats, the eradication of biological species, or the very disappearance of genetic diversity. His work explores our human relationship with the natural environment and our responsibilities to protect nature.
Typically, his multimedia work—which ranges from prints to large-scale installations—incorporates found objects and a variety of materials ranging from paper, to clay, to wood. And, it often encompasses genres that can include photography, printmaking, sculpture, and even film. Cardillo’s artistic practice skillfully negotiates a political commitment and methodological facility within image making today. Major series of prints measure out the career and contributions of this prolific artist, and these portfolios convey a graphic facility and subtle variation that enables creative exploration and determined advocacy.
Rimer Cardillo, born in Montevideo, Uruguay, is a visual artist, printmaker, and graphic designer who has resided in the United States since 1979. He graduated from Montevideo’s Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1968 and, between 1969 and 1971, continued his education in Germany at the Berlin Weibensee School of Art and the Leipzig School of Graphic Arts.
Cardillo is a Guggenheim Fellowship award winner who represented Uruguay at the 2001 Venice Biennial and has had extensive group and individual exhibitions throughout the Americas as well as in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. As a printmaker, he has participated in print biennials all over the world, and is highly regarded for his technical innovations. His work is included in the collections of major museums in North America, South America, and Europe. With frequent travels to Latin America, where he maintains his studio in Montevideo, the artist currently lives and works in the Hudson River Valley and in New York City.
Rimer Cardillo…and the deep ecology of a sacred nature is on view on the second floor in the Carilion Clinic Gallery, Special Exhibition Gallery, and Gentry Locke Resource Lounge.
EXHIBITION PREVIEW
Rimer Cardillo (Uruguayan, b. 1944), Piedras Blancas Butterfly from Sublime Jewelry Series, 1978-79, Cast and engraved polyester resin plate embossed prints with found object and zinc or copper plate intaglio prints on paper
Rimer Cardillo (Uruguayan, b. 1944), Anacahuita (The Pepper of the Poor) (detail), 2014, Hand-cast acid free cotton fiber paper wall installation
Rimer Cardillo (Uruguayan, b. 1944), The Cicada Wants to Enter Heaven from Cicadas and Moths Series, 1973, Multi-color photo-silkscreen on paper
Rimer Cardillo (Uruguayan, b. 1944), Reliquary with Ten Boxes from Graphic-Ecological Objects Series, 1974-75 and 1978-81, Wooden boxes containing zinc plate etchings, aquatints, and engraving with zinc plate and polyester resin plate embossing on paper and engraved polyester resin plate embossings and viscosity paintings