ARTIST’S STATEMENT  |  BIOGRAPHY
Native of Spain, born in Paris, France, Miré Albornoz received her art education at the the University of Toronto School of Fine Arts, University of Toronto Fine Art History, the Universita di Siena, Renaissance Arts Program in Italy and the University of Toronto Faculty of Architecture. She was visually influenced by her experiences living in Spain, France, England, Italy, and Canada. She has also traveled extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, and Africa. She is a citizen of Spain and Canada where she presently resides. Her recent visual references are derived from early memories of southern Spain largely inspired by religious mysticism and art. Her work displays a translucence of thin layers, with a texture reminiscent of ageing frescoes. This is juxtaposed against hard-edged solid fields and cutouts evoking geometric abstractionism and modern architecture. The organic washes of color stand behind a composition of rigid, absolute forms. Miré Albornoz’s paintings, for the most part, are not representational but are rather meant to capture an emotional response to places, people and references that mark her history. Her intention is to communicate a universal visual language that is accessible to a wide audience and will transcend the barriers between art and people. The paintings are meant to evoke a subconscious emotional recognition in the viewer. And for her, each one translates the essence of a memory. Though her energies are devoted primarily to mixed media/acrylic paintings, the study of the human form through figure drawing has also been a passion from early on. The Women is a collection that represents a significant landmark in her life. These drawings were initially fueled by a preoccupation of the limits of the human body, but the very act of exploring and creating such images transformed the process into a celebration of the body. They capture the resilience of the female body. Sensual and defiant, they are a precursor to the spirit of survival that would follow.