{"id":1090,"date":"2018-02-01T11:56:13","date_gmt":"2018-02-01T10:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/?post_type=artist&p=1090"},"modified":"2025-09-18T14:28:44","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T12:28:44","slug":"louise-guardia","status":"publish","type":"artist","link":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/en\/artist\/louise-guardia\/","title":{"rendered":"Louise Guardia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Louise Guardia (1961-2015)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Louise\u2019s paintings are like a diary. Each work tells a story from her life: the holidays, a visit to a museum or just her thoughts. Often the title offers a clear reference to the source of inspiration, such as \u2018Alcohol museum\u2019, \u2018New York\u2019 and \u2018Experience it all in the Arse-nal\u2019. Strikingly, the paintings that Louise makes are in memory of loved ones, such as the paintings about Chrispijn, a housemate who died, and about her mother Aleid.<\/p>\n

In the paintings \u2018Aleid\u2019 and \u2018Lijnbaan\u2019, for example, Louise summons up memories of her mother. \u2018Lijnbaan\u2019 represents the Rotterdam shopping street where Louise regularly shopped with her parents. Amongst other things, she paints a shop window, a clothes rack, a clothes hanger, jewellery. At the very top, almost inconspicuously, is a small cross. \u2018That is specially for Aleid. So I can think about [her] more.\u2019
\nIn the painting \u2018Aleid\u2019, Louise\u2019s parental house on the Gijsinglaan is depicted. Through the walls we can look inside and see an enlarged display of all sorts of jewellery, which for Louise symbolise her mother. In the clouds above the roofs there is a small portrait of Aleid. \u2018And here, around the house, are her arms. They are giving the house a cuddle\u2019.<\/p>\n

Throughout the years, Louise has brought a certain routine to her working methods. All her paintings originate in her sketch book, which she takes with her everywhere. She begins every drawing with a frame, in which the rest of the image is placed. This sketch, including the frame, is then transferred to canvas. She then fills it in, area by area, with various colours. The image grows at a steady pace. Finally, she outlines all the forms with another colour. Once the last line has been placed, then the work is finished. This working technique requires considerable patience and precision. With passion and discipline, Louise works for weeks and weeks on one painting.
\nBecause of all the brightly coloured areas, the work initially appears to be an abstract mosaic. Yet every form has a meaning. In more recent work, Louise has painted a few areas in black, so that \u2018the light colours surrounding them appear to be even lighter.\u2019 In the canvas \u2018New York\u2019, in which a man in diving gear is depicted, the black has a second meaning too: \u2018That’s because under the water it’s dark.\u2019<\/p>\n

Louise’s work contains considerable symbolism. The painting \u2018The biography of Chrispijn\u2019, for example, is a compilation of all sorts of memories of Louise’s dead house mate. The five disco lights in the bottom right-hand corner symbolise Chrispijn’s love of music. The little squares on the bottom left are the pebbles of the gravel path at the grave yard. The flames on the centre right, are the flames which illuminate the open hearth in their house. A candle, the stars in heaven and a cross are further depicted. In the centre there is a large heart. \u2018That is the biography of Chrispijn: a sort of funeral with a heart on it.\u2019 There are ten arrows sticking out of the heart. \u2018Well, arrows are for remembrance, of course. That means that I think about Chrispijn. A lot of remembrance, exactly through the heart.\u2019<\/p>\n

Exhibitions<\/strong><\/p>\n

1992\u00a0 Zonder Omweg, Singer Museum, Laren<\/p>\n

1993\u00a0 Greenpeace printed one of her paintings on\u00a0childrensweaters<\/p>\n

1993 \u00a0Hoarding painting Li\u00e8ge, Belgium, for\u00a0international touring exhibition Project 12<\/p>\n

1995\u00a0 Participation international workshop and\u00a0exhibition in Cirque des Vari\u00e9t\u00e9s, Li\u00e8ge, Belgium<\/p>\n

1994\u00a0 Academic Hospital Leiden (catalogue)<\/p>\n

1996\u00a0 Solo exhibition in Gallery Dijkzigt, Rotterdam<\/p>\n

1998\u00a0 Study-tour United States concerning exhibition in Chuck Levitan Gallery, New York, USA<\/p>\n

2002\u00a0 Exhibition Unilever, Rotterdam<\/p>\n

2002\u00a0 “Die Welt: Innen Nach Aussen”, Hamburg, Germany<\/p>\n

2003\u00a0 “Bruut”, Gallery Herenplaats in co-operation with\u00a0Showroom Mama, Rotterdam<\/p>\n

2004\u00a0 “Gewaagt”, Leiden<\/p>\n

2006\u00a0 Jubilee exhibition 15 years Herenplaats,\u00a0Gallery Herenplaats<\/p>\n

2007\u00a0 “Helden”, (Heroes) groupsexhibition,\u00a0Gallery Herenplaats, Rotterdam<\/p>\n

2007\u00a0 “Outsiderkunst van Herenplaats”\u00a0(Outsiderart of the Herenplaats),\u00a0GAIA museum, Randers, Denmark<\/p>\n

2008\u00a0 Exhibition in Niki Kurabu, Tokyo, Japan<\/p>\n

2008\u00a0 “Gewoon Bijzonder” (just special)\u00a0Gallery de Boog, IJsselstein<\/p>\n

2009\u00a0 Rackstadtmusee, Arvika, Sweden, Outsider Art Biennale, “Art surrounded by\u00a0legends and wilderness”.<\/p>\n

2010\u00a0 “Outsider Art Salon”,\u00a0Gallery Herenplaats,\u00a0Rotterdam<\/p>\n

2011\u00a0 Expositie Zorgcentrum Crimpenersteyn, Krimpen a\/d IJssel<\/p>\n

2011\u00a0\u00a0“Derden”, Pand Paulus, Schiedam<\/p>\n

2011\u00a0\u00a0Aix Les Bains, France<\/p>\n

2011\u00a0\u00a0“Museum of Everything 4”, Londen, U.K.<\/p>\n

2011\u00a0\u00a0WTC- Schiphol, Amsterdam<\/p>\n

Collections<\/strong><\/p>\n

Max E. Ammann Collection, Switzerland<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Catalogues<\/strong><\/p>\n

1992 \u00a0“Project 12”, Cr\u00e9ahm, Li\u00e8ge, Belgium.<\/p>\n

1992\u00a0 “Zonder Omweg”, Singer Museum, Laren.<\/p>\n

1994 \u00a0Academic Hospital (Artbook), Leiden.<\/p>\n

1998 \u00a0“Zonder Omweg 2”, Singer Museum, Laren.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Order<\/strong><\/p>\n

1992 Painting, printed on sweaters for Greenpeace<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Louise Guardia (1961-2015) Louise\u2019s paintings are like a diary. Each work tells a story from her life: the holidays, a visit to a museum or just her thoughts. Often the title offers a clear reference to the source of inspiration, such as \u2018Alcohol museum\u2019, \u2018New York\u2019 and \u2018Experience it all in the Arse-nal\u2019. Strikingly, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":719,"template":"","class_list":["post-1090","artist","type-artist","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist\/1090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/artist"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.herenplaats.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}