Artist captures Colombia’s dazzling Caribbean sea

By Rachel Lee From The Korea Times

Colombia, a Latin American country with many sun-drenched stretches, will bring a collection of photographs to Seoul to mark its National Day, which falls on July 20.

The “Colombian Photography Exhibition,” organized by the Leo Matiz Foundation and the Colombian Embassy, will feature over 20 works by legendary photographer Leo Matiz (1917-98). It will be held at the Korea Foundation Gallery in Seoul from July 14 to Aug. 3.

Matiz was considered one of the most influential figures between 1940 and 1950 in Mexico, experimenting with abstract imagery.

Colombian Ambassador to Korea Tito Saul Pinilla Pinilla said the sample of the Colombian Caribbean by Leo Matiz is an institutional project that aims to “start the celebrations of the National Day of Colombia in this Asian country and seeks to contribute to the positioning of Colombian culture in this region of the world.”

According to the Leo Matiz Foundation, Matiz’s photos of the north coast of the Latin American country will also be on show in China this year, supported by the embassy in Seoul, which will be a “prelude to the Commemoration of the Centenary of Leo Matiz’s Birth” next April in Mexico and Colombia.

“The magic of the endearing images of Leo Matiz reveal the Macondo atmosphere of daily life in the northern coast of Colombia, capturing the strength of popular traditions linked to the tropics,” an embassy spokesperson said.

“And his incisive and alert eye gives us the immediate essence of the most forgotten places and vital geography of Macondo belonging to rural and urban world of the Caribbean.”

The embassy said the Colombian government paid tribute to the artist in 1998, recognizing him as one of the major players in photography during the 20th century.

The Leo Matiz Foundation has disseminated and preserved the photographer’s work for several decades in the United States, Europe and Asia to “publicize the diversity and universality of this Colombian artist, recognized as one of the great photographers of the 20th century,” the embassy said.

“Colombian Photography Exhibition” poster / Courtesy of the Embassy of Colombia

For more on this story go to: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2016/07/176_209014.html