Flor María Bouhot

Flor María Bouhot
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Born	(1949-10-02)2 October 1949 Bello, Colombia
Known for	Painting
Movement	Neo-Impressionism, Feminism
Spouse(s)	Antonio Sierra Jaramillo (m. 1982.)

Flor María Bouhot (born 2 October 1949) is a Colombian artist who graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts and the Faculty of Arts at the University of Antioquia (Medellín). Her work explores themes such as the human body, desire, urban life, celebration, and social marginalization, primarily through painting and figurative art.

Biography

Flor María Bouhot was born in 1949 in Bello, Antioquia, into a large family. Her father, Rafael Ángel Bouhot, of French descent, worked for the Antioquia Railroad, and her mother, Ana de Jesús Arroyave, worked in the textile industry of the region.

In 1962, after completing primary school at the Andrés Bello School, she moved with her family to Puerto Berrío. There she helped with the family business and began to develop her interest in art. During this period she wrote poetry, some of which was published in El Correo de Medellín, and came into contact with the poet Carlos Castro Saavedra.

In 1969 she moved to Medellín to continue her studies. She studied at the Institute of Fine Arts, where she was a student of Emiro Botero and Eduardo Echeverry. She participated in annual exhibitions and worked primarily with watercolors, while also becoming familiar with European avant-garde movements such as Fauvism and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). In 1972 she attended the 3rd Coltejer Biennial, an event that broadened her knowledge of international art. She graduated in 1975 and participated in the "Salón de Artistas Bellanitas" (Bello Artists' Salon), where she met the artist Antonio Sierra, whom she later married.

In order to obtain a university degree, she enrolled in the University of Antioquia in 1976, where she studied Visual Arts under the guidance of professors such as Álvaro Marín Vieco. Her studies were affected by the student protests of the time, but she finally graduated in 1983. In 1984 she won First Prize in the Young Artists' Salon of the Museum of Antioquia.

In 1982 she married Antonio Sierra Jaramillo, with whom she had two sons, Daniel and Alejandro Sierra Bouhot. Since 2000 she has lived in Guadalajara, her current place of residence.

Style

Flor María Bouhot's work, which began in the 1970s, addresses themes such as the body, sexuality, female representation, and urban life. Her work is organized into different series, characterized by the use of vibrant colors based on primary hues and a constant exploration of gender identities and roles.

One of her early influences was the Guayaquil neighborhood of Medellín, a working-class area where she began her career in clandestine street photography, capturing scenes and characters associated with nightlife. This type of photography sparked her interest in color, leading to the "Symphony of Guayaquil" series. There, she moved to watercolor and techniques such as acrylic and oil painting, portraying figures from the margins of society, such as sex workers and homeless people. Later, she addressed the theme of the nude from a female perspective, in contrast to the male-dominated tradition in Colombian art, which has led to comparisons with artists such as Débora Arango in Colombia and Suzanne Valadon in Europe.

In the mid-1980s, she began "The Lovers" series, focusing on sexuality and compositions that challenged gender hierarchies. At the same time, she developed other series such as "Of Panthers and Women," "Instances of Ecstasy," and "Black Whispers for White Birds," in which she depicted women with autonomy and a perspective that diverged from traditional stereotypes. During that same decade, she also began to explore the representation of sexual diversity, with works such as "Petra and Micaela" (Antioquia Museum) and "Alexis and El Ronco" (Bachué Collection).

In the 1990s, she worked on the "Carnival" series, inspired by popular celebrations and the blending of human, animal, and plant elements. Since the early 2000s, after settling in Guadalajara, Mexico, she created the "Staves of Power" series, in which she revisited natural and animal symbols associated with spirituality.

Exhibitions and awards

Her work has been exhibited in galleries such as La Oficina in Medellín and Skandia in Bogotá, as well as in museums such as the Museum of Antioquia, the Museum of Modern Art in Medellín, the National Museum of Colombia in Bogotá, La Aduana in Barranquilla, and La Tertulia Museum in Cali. She was selected for the 5th American Biennial of Graphic Arts in Cali (1986), the "New Voices" exhibition of the Bank of the Republic (1987), and participated in the National Art Salon, Colombia's most important art event, in its 29th (1985), 30th (1986), 31st (1987), 32nd (1990), and 35th (1994) editions.

Her works were part of the traveling exhibition "Made in Medellín" (1989), which toured major cities in the United States for a year and a half.

In Guadalajara, Mexico, where she currently resides, she has held exhibitions at Televisa and other venues and galleries. In 2019, EAFIT University in Medellín held the exhibition "The Colors of Desire," a tribute to her 50 years as an artist and her 70th birthday.

Throughout her career, she has received several awards, including first place in the Young Artists Salon of the Museum of Antioquia in 1984, first prize at the Bellanitas Artists Salon in 2010, a resolution from the Antioquia Departmental Assembly in 2015 recognizing her career and contribution to the region's culture, and in 2022, the Mariscal Jorge Robledo Medal in the Gold category, awarded by the City Council of the Museum of Antioquia for her 54 years as an artist.

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