R.C.O.

ROMINA CRISTI OLATE Visual Artist

ABOUT

I’m a Chilean artist living between Santiago de Chile and Utrecht, Netherlands. I paint landscapes and subjective maps in watercolour. From time to time I create artist books too.  My work focuses on the perception I have of the place that surrounds me.  I constantly look for a visual language that can interpret both: the reality I see outside and the mental-emotional process that shapes its perception, creating what I call inner landscapes. The transparency of watercolour helps me to explore and construct the layers that form these two realities.

My education is in architecture, which has an important influence on my interest in the subjective dimension of human dwelling, even though concepts that cross discipline boundaries, such as urban imaginaries, psychogeography helped me to better understand what I want to communicate.  This, intertwined with the fact that my life has been nomadic for the last seven years also triggers questions like how I am connected with a territory, how it influences me, how I adapt when moving, and how Art can be a bridge that helps me to comprehend the different aspects of inhabiting this world. Those questions are the fuel for my art.

I create artworks that are mostly small, even miniature. Mainly in series. The reason for this is practical: I am a traveller artist trying to move light. But it is also a statement with which I want to constantly remind myself (and you) that beauty resides in the tiny details of life that, sometimes, we take for granted.

 

EXHIBITIONS (*solo show)

2022

-My Room is a Strange Loop. Blikveld Cultural Center, Bonheiden, Belgium

2022

-‘El agua de tus lágrimas es el agua de la Tierra’. Riu d’ Art. Riba Roja d’ Ebre. Cataluña. Spain

-“Nostalgia de los Andes”, IWS Chile, Concurso Nacional “Visiones Profundas”(National Watercolour Competition), Hotel Museo El Greco de Puerto Varas, Chile

2021
-My Room is a Strange Loop. UnBoxing. Arts Territory Exchange. Travelling Exhibition

2020
-“Maps from the unknown city”.You are Here, Online exhibition. Katmapped.
-Sounds Library. Arts Territory Exchange and MUCK
-My Room is a Strange Loop. Residency by Correspondence. Arts Territory Exchange

2019
-“Cordón Develado”.Make Your Mark: An Alternative Mapping Project. Solent Showcase Gallery. Southampton. UK
-Accessible Art Show. Solent University. Southampton.UK.
-”El transitar de una Vida” Permanent installation at Riba-roja Cemetery. Riu d’ Art. Riba Roja d’ Ebre. Cataluña. Spain
-*”Miniature Portswood”. Solo exhibition. Community Space. October Books. Southampton UK

2018
-*“Conversations with Southampton”. Solo Exhibition. The Art House. Southampton. UK
– “Lugares intangibles”. Permanent sculpture. Riu d’ Art. Riba Roja d’ Ebre. Cataluña. Spain
-“Tiny portraits of a common life”. Mutrend Lab. Southampton. UK
-“Cordón Develado”. Finalist Exhibition VIA Arts Prize 2018. Brasil Embassy. London. UK
-“An Offering”, “A rite”, “A cycle”. Mapping Series. Christmas Exhibition. The Art House. Southampton. UK

2017
-“Small Faces”. Solent Showcase Gallery. Southampton, UK
– “Subjective Mapping” exhibition.Brivezac, France
-“Inner Territories” Series. Bold for change for International Women’s Day Exhibition. The Art House. Southampton. UK
-“Inner Territories 2” Series. Open art collective exhibition. King John’s House. Romsey. Southampton. UK