PILAR OVALLE

PILAR OVALLE Biography

"(Pilar Ovalle’s) strength lies in the watchful crafting of her wood, often worked with real delicacy; in her symbolic fantasy and dreamlike features, in her visceral humor.”
   -    Waldemar Sommer, “El Mercurio”

Born in Santiago, Chile, Pilar Ovalle began her studies in 1989 at the Instituto de Arte Contemporáneo de Santiago. She studied with the Instituto through the early '90s, during which time she also won Third Prize at the XV Concurso de Arte Joven (Young Art Contest) and received grants from Fondart (National Fund for the Arts) for her projects “Sculpture with Shattered Wood” and “Curved Wood Sculpture using Chilote Techniques.”

A recipient of a variety of awards and recognitions, Ovalle was invited by the Museu Oscar Niemayer of Curitiba for a solo exhibition of 44 of her sculptures displayed in a 2,000 square meter space. Sponsored by the Government of the State of Paraná, the exhibition was also later shown at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes of Santiago.

PILAR OVALLE Statement

My work has always been related to wood, and therefore I have exhaustively learned most of the techniques involved, both those formally taught at art schools and those personally learned from artisans and boat builders from the south of Chile. This expertise has allowed me to work on my projects with some ease. Difficult tasks like bending wood and the addition of segments by increments instead of carving wood blocks are especially rewarding. These techniques are characteristic of my work during the first years of my career.

As I work directly with Nature, combining wood already ‘worked’ by wind, water and time, with ‘elaborated’ -sawn- wood, I do this with a critical scope, dealing with ecology and progress, with emotion and poetry somehow set against rationality and technology, or setting ‘wisdom’ against mere information.

PILAR OVALLE Resumé

Solo Exhibitions
2011 “Tissue of Life,” Chilean Embassy, Washington D.C and Kouros Gallery, New York, NY
2010 “Evolution in Wood,” Art ESpAce, San Francisco, CA
2008-2009 “Natura Vincit”, Kouros Gallery, New York, NY and Galería Patricia Ready, Santiago, Chile
2008 “Sculpture – Pilar Ovalle,” San Francisco Group of Collectors, San Francisco, CA
2007 “Origen y registro”, Pinacoteca Universidad de Concepción, Bío Bío Region, Chile
2006 "Transitions: Roots to Heaven," Sculpturesite Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2006 “Wenu Mamüll," Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
2005 “Passages," Galería Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile
2005 “Wenu Mamüll, Skywood”, Museo Oscar Niemayer, Curitiba, Brazil
2003 “Interior Space," Galería Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile
2001 "Objects," Galería Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile
1998 “Sculpture," Galería Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile
1995 “Sculpture in Wood,” Galería Isabel Aninat, Santiago, Chile

Scholarships and Prizes
2012 “Wood, Paper & Fiber," Collective Exposition, The Art Gallery, University of Maryland
2011 Sculpture Symposium, Vitacura Municipality, Santiago
2010 Nominated for Altazor Prize in Sculpture
2006 Nominated for Altazor Prize in Sculpture
2005 Nominated for Altazor Prize in Sculpture
2004 First Prize, International Sculpture Contest for Mercosur Countries, Curitiba, Brazil
2002 Nominated for Altazor Prize in Sculpture
1996 Honorable Mention, Concurso de Escultura Chilgener
1995 "Curved Wood Sculpture," Fondart Grant, National Fund for the Arts
1994 Fondart Grant, National Fund for the Arts, for “Sculpture with Shattered Wood”
1993 Third Prize, XV National Young Artists Contest, Universidad Católica de Valparaíso

Public Collections
Museo de Artes Visuals, Santiago, Chile
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile
Museo Oscar Niemayer, Curitiba, Brazil
Colección Banco de Crédito e Inversiones, Santiago, Chile
Colección Inmobiliaria Simonetti, Santiago, Chile
Pinacoteca Universidad de Concepción, Concepción, Chile
Royal Botanical Gardens, Toronto, Canada
Parque de las Esculturas, Santiago, Chile
Cliff & Delight Stone Collection, Oregon, USA
Banco de A. Edwards, ‘El Bosque Norte’