Nirma Zárate

Nirma Zárate Mejía (1936–1999) was a Colombian artist, professor, and researcher famously known for her abstract works. Zárate was born in Bogotá, Colombia.

She grew up in Colombia during World War II. Zárate experimented with different mediums and styles, such as Abstract Art or Pop Art. Her first exhibition was as a student in Bogotá and shortly after, she moved to the United States where she lived for four years. She settled in Washington where she was chosen by Union Panamericana De Washington to participate in an exhibition of great Colombian art. Later in her career, Zárate was one of the co-directors of Taller 4 Rojo, a collective of Colombian artists interested in representing the political and social reality of Colombia. Her art during this period in her life turned shifted to more politically active art.

She also taught at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia for many years. Zárate died in her hometown of Bogotá, in 1999, at the age of sixty-three.

Education Nirma studied art from the 1950s through the 1960s. She began her studies in art at the University of Los Andes in 1955. She went on to graduate from the School of Fine Arts at the National University of Colombia in 1960. The group slowly grew and included other artists such as Carlos Granada and Jorge Mora. The group later gained momentum and grew to include other artists as members of the board, which included Zárate, Arango, Jorge Mora, Jorge Villegas, Germán Rojas, Umberto Giangrandi, Carlos Granada, and Fabio Rodriguez. Courses were offered in both traditional and contemporary forms of graphic art, including photography, drawing, design, and newer forms of printmaking such as silk screening. Two courses were offered in graphic arts. The first was a beginners course and the second was an advanced course mostly for college art students but open to those with enough skill. Taller 4 Rojo dissolved in 1974 due to political differences between members.

Chronology

1936: Born in Bogotá.

Aggression to Vietnam, 1970

Nirma Zarate

Photography and engraving, screen prints - triptych

60x 50 cm

MAC

Description- This print via silkscreen depicts a woman through three stages of the war. All three stages have a dollar bill with different U.S. based companies and as the frames move on the dollar bill starts to burn up until it is nearly gone. The woman gets happier the more the dollar burns. This piece was done to protest the Vietnam war and depicts why the U.S. went to war in the first place, according to the artist.

8 intoxicados con hongos, 1971

Nirma Zárate

Photography, Screen print on paper

102x70.2cm

The Banco de La República Art Collection

A Nosotros, 1971

Nirma Zárate

Photography, screen print on paper

70x50cm

The Banco de La República Art Collection

Una niña muere por inanición, 1971

Nirma Zárate

Photography, screen print on paper

83.3x52.4cm

The Banco de La República Art Collection

A la huelga 100, a la huelga 1000, 1978

Nirma Zárate

Serigraphy

100x70cm

The Banco de La República Art Collection

El algodón 1 - Los iguazos, 1980

Nirma Zárate

Serigraphy

70x50cm

The Banco de La República Art Collection

Description- Depicts a field worker at the top holding a hoe and almost like a grin on his face, while a line of people walk with luggage below him.

Exhibitions

1986 Huellas papel hecho a mano: Nirma Zárate, Museo de Arte Moderno de Bogota 1988 El papel y las fibras, Museo de Arte y Tradiciones Populares, Santafé de Bogotá 1989 Fibras, Centro de Arte, Medellin, Colombia 1992 Atmosferas andinas, Museo Bolivariano de Arte Contemporaneo, Santa Marta, Colombia

Collections One particularly strong political work, Aggression to Vietnam, by Zárate and Arango was added to the Google Arts Project, an online art archive of famous works, in collaboration with the Museum of Contemporary Art Bogota (MAC) in 2017 as part of a partnership to upload famous and highly sought after art works into an online library available to users all around the world.

Accolades

1961: Grant to travel in South America

1963: Awarded second place in the painting category in the Colombian National Salon

1969-70: British Council scholarship to study silk screen in England

1983-84: Pratt Institute scholarship to study printmaking