Derek Durgaram

Bloemhof opens the year 2020 with the solo-exhibition "Chika Desvestida" by Johanna Franco Zapata. The opening will take place on Friday 17 January at 7 p.m. Christel Monsanto provides the opening word.

"Chika Desvestida" is a wordplay and means "undress the undressed young lady", but also symbolizes the artist who is reforming her own artistic identity. "Chika Desvestida" reflects a dualistic feeling and the awareness process of the artist.

“My artistic education taught me that art is about freedom, but at the same time gave the impression that a work must be grandiose in order to be able to view it as art. This contradiction made my creative process stressful and unpleasant. In my work, the challenge was and remains to break free from those restrictive unwritten rules. Until now, the process of leaving behind representative and symbolic conditions has led to a minimalist way of working. "Chika Desvestida" is not seeking approval; they are my most intuitive and conscious works, with which I try to redefine things by creating my own values. I wonder where this process will lead me again. I am discovering what drives me to create art so that I am satisfied. "Says Johanna with a determined tone.

The paintings that are presented in this exhibition are mainly abstract works. Color and minimalist forms play an important role with the aim of becoming an experience for the viewer and where he can experience the work without necessarily having to understand it.