page_title: Jim Amaral
section_title: Early career in the 1960s and 1970s
hierarchical_section_title: Jim Amaral / Works / Early career in the 1960s and 1970s
caption_attribution_description: English: Jim Amaral "Mourning Fruit Nº 15", 1983, acrylic and oil paint on linen and wood.
context_page_description: Jim Amaral is an American-born Colombian artist known for his drawings and bronze sculptures. Over a career that spans more than half a century, Amaral has also been dedicated to painting, etchings, collages, furniture design, assemblages/objects, and artist’s books. The artist has been widely recognized for his draughtsmanship, the subtlety and refinement of his technique as well as his imaginative and cultured universe. As a constant experimenter, Amaral has developed a unique aesthetics and symbolism and therefore has never belonged to any style or movement in particular. However, his work has been linked, for example, to surrealism and ancient Greece. His art is deeply rooted in the psychological realms of the human existence. Amaral has always been focused on the condition of the human being, especially the topic of death and the passing time. "I am only trying to understand the world, to live through my painting. I am trying to understand certain mysteries, such as the energies of life and death, the loneliness of a man I paint what people can reflect upon, so that what stays with the spectator is not only the visual impact".
context_section_description: In his first solo show in 1962 at the Vorpal Gallery in San Francisco, Amaral exhibited small ink drawings humorously depicting erotic themes. This exhibition was important in the cultural context of the values change in the US, the transition from the beatniks to the hippies, which favoured a new attitude towards sex. The 1960s were also a period of great unrest and Amaral himself suffered an episode of depression in that time. A psychoanalytic treatment resulted in a series of "psychological" drawings that the artist considers as skill exercises and a result of the atmosphere of the time. In 1964, Amaral had his first solo show in Colombia, in Galería El Callejón, where he exhibited drawings, collages and oil paintings. Toward the end of the sixties, Amaral worked increasingly with erotic themes and in 1970 participated in a group exhibition entitled El erotismo en el arte at the Galería Belarca in Bogotá. In 1972 at the same gallery, he showed drawings in a new technique that he started to develop earlier in Paris - a mix of pencil and watercolour on paper treated previously with gesso.
  During the 1970s Amaral exhibited in France, Italy, Sweden, Germany, and Belgium. During his Parisian period, Amaral found an intellectual affinity with the milieu of the time as well as a popular audience which brought him critical acclaim by authors like Jacques Leenhardt and José Pierre. His drawings from the 1970s often treat subjects in an erotic and sensual manner with a realistic style. "I hear people saying that my artworks are erotic. I don't think so. But then I am surprised  - almost confused - when I see how annoyed people get when they see a penis". He typically depicts fragmented body parts, human sexual organs, flowers that bloom lips or ears as petals, and biomorphic beings. Invisible Flowers is one of his most remarkable creations from this period. The title alludes to Invisible Cities, written by Italo Calvino, a friend of the artist during his years in Paris. His work from this period also comes in the form of collages and assemblages with antique boxes, old photographs, antique books, and antique colonial furniture. The surrealist roots of these creations are evident.
caption: Jim Amaral "Mourning Fruit Nº 15", 1983, acrylic and oil paint on linen and wood.
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