Neoexpressionist Hector Anchundia (An-CHUN-dee-ah) concentrates on abstract figurative art. The feminine figure embodies the principal object of Anchundia’s work, giving him the ability to play with movement and lend form to his compositions. Born in Vinces, Ecuador on April 17, 1942, Anchundia remains an artist of the tropics, “loud, colorful, and full of life,” visible in the reds, oranges, and yellows that he uses in his paintings. His arrival in New York in the late 1970’s, however, was transformative, and his paintings evolved from naturalist depictions to abstracted forms of the human figure.
Producing works of exceptional poetic sensibility has kept Anchudia in constant evolution as a painter. Figures, colors, and shadows all reflect the artist’s emotions, moods, anxieties, and dreams; and signal his fascination for the display of power and confidence in body language, as well as the expressiveness of the eyes. A talented draftsman, Anchundia innovates with forms, themes and ideas; moreover, his experimentation opens his work to political, philosophical and even religious interpretations.
Anchundia’s first exhibit in 1969 was in Brazil at the the Palácio do Catete, now the Museu da Republica, in Rio di Janerio. He has also exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; the Brooklyn Museum; the Bronx Museum Council of Art; The Harold B. Lemmerman Gallery, among others. Solo exhibitions include the Museo Arqueológico del Banco del Pacifico (Ecuador, 1997) and the Carmel Fine Art Gallery (Milwaukee, WI, 2008).
