Guillermo Celis

Guillermo Celis presents The Eternal Search.

How do we find our way? Is there a predetermined route that leads us to achieve happiness and our maximum potential, or are we destined to wander from one moment to the next without ties to a higher plan? Is there a final destination or are we in an endless search?

In The Eternal Search, the multidisciplinary and self-taught artist from Guadalajara, Guillermo Celis, makes us reflect on these questions as he guides us through a spiritual reflection on his life, from uncertainty to purpose.

The exhibition begins with an installation from the Search for Light series, in which Celis uses light and thread to mark moments of clarity that lie within confusion, physical milestones that define a path and briefly rescue the viewer from the darkness. Celis' personal story inspires this part of the exhibition, intentionally creating a representation of discomfort and disorientation. The long, taut lines of thread physically separate us from the light and evoke a feeling of imprisonment, turning us into seekers unable to reach our truth. However, there is hope in these places, as Search for Light was created at a defining moment in the artist's life, when he found new love and purpose as a full-time artist.

It is then that the light appears, a refuge expressed in Celis' Windows to the Soul series, made up of meditative drawings that balance the past and the future. Here the thread becomes straight lines inked with a minimalist color palette; the lines converge and separate in patterns that serve to draw us in rather than keep us at a distance. It was during the pandemic that Celis began this series of works, offering each of us grace and space to discover greater meaning in life, while he tried to figure it out for himself. Based on his interest in architecture, the artist uses straight lines to create an illusion of depth and structure, inviting us to enter a world of beautiful order far from the chaos of our daily lives. Celis' choice of colors calms us into the serenity we seek or breaks our complacency to open our eyes to new ideas.

Now, more confident in himself, Celis is an experienced artist who has traveled to some parts of the world sharing his art and is a happy father in his new reality. It is in this space of emotional freedom where he offers us a new collection of pieces, using the same straight lines and geometric patterns as before, but this time using different shades of a single color in each piece. This new monochromatic approach to Windows to the Soul exudes confidence and invites us to continue on this journey with greater understanding and acceptance of the self. The compositions become increasingly complex and represent paths that the artist has yet to take, flowing, converging, and separating towards an unknown but optimistic future. In these works, Celis continues to employ precise planning to execute images that arise from the heart and intuition. Here we have order and freedom at the same time, the reflection of a man who knows what he is and who welcomes the possibilities of the future with open arms.

Open on Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th from 12 to 5pm. Appointments here

— Jeri Netter Henoch