Bliss is Not a Happy Thing
Bliss is Not a Happy Thing
August 6, 2021 – August 29, 2021
The starting point of this series of paintings coincided with the beginning of the pandemic that hit the world in early 2020. The genesis of the underlying feeling exhibited in this body of work is rooted in the dialogues of George Constanza and Elaine Benes from the sitcom Seinfield, which I began obsessively rewatching during quarantine. In its early stages we expected nothing less than a drastic, spectacular and profound social and economic change, we felt the chance for change was there to take, but as time went by and isolation, nostalgia and binging fell upon us, complacency and lethargy settle.
Not so dramatically, the world slowly resume its usual path, there was no Armageddon and subsequent utopic rebirth of society, instead we cling harder at what little we got left.
In the prophetic words spoken in the early 90s by George Constanza, “My dream is to become hopeless”. – Ramiro Smith Estrada, Artist.
—
Ramiro Smith Estrada, lives and works in Buenos Aires. He pursued Engraving as a career at Universidad del Museo Social Argentino in 2007. He was selected to be displayed at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts in the field of Engraving in 2010 and 2013, and to the Williams Award in 2012. In 2014 he was selected to attend the Contemporary Artistic Practices Clinic (PAC, for its initials in Spanish) conducted by Gachi Prieto Gallery and delivered by renowned artists and professors Eduardo Stupia, Rodrigo Alonso, Rafael Cippoletti and Andres Waissman. The same year he took part of a four-Argentinian-artist showing exhibition at VICE Gallery in the context of Art Basel Miami Beach. In 2015 he participated in an art residency program at LaVallee in Brussels, Belgium. In 2017 he presented “CHETO” his fifth solo exhibition at Mundo Nuevo Art Gallery (Buenos Aires). In 2018 he was selected for two art residency programs in Denver, at Redline Studios in June and at Taxi Studio in October. He presented his first U.S. solo show “EXPERTLY PAIRED” at Leon Gallery in Denver on July 2019 and is currently working on a show at Understudy in the same city, to be held in August 2021.
—–
Public Hours: Thursdays through Sundays, 12:00pm – 6:00pm.
Opening Reception: Friday, August 6th, 6:00pm – 9pm.
Understudy is free-to-visit and open to all. We are located at the Colorado Convention Center / Theatre District light rail stop near 14th and Stout. Look for the Shantell Martin art bench.
