The Lone Tree Drawing

Antonia Guerrero is a multifaceted Mexican and American artist whose work revolves around issues of personal and cultural identities. She has been based in New York since 1999. Born in the United States, to a Mexican father and Canadian mother, Guerrero was raised and educated in Mexico. Her mother, Bessie Galbraith was a pioneering advertising professional who helped promote an image of Mexico for foreign tourism. Antonia’s father, Jesus Guerrero Galvan, was a renowned painter and part of the Mexican Muralist movement of the 40s, 50s and 60s in Mexico. Guerrero’s childhood was marked by an early exposure to the arts. Her mother raised her alone but made sure that visits to painters’ and writers’ studios, dance, concerts and theatre all were a part of her upbringing. Guerrero also traveled extensively throughout Mexico, to beautiful rural towns and indigenous communities that exposed her to many of the ancient sites of past civilizations as well as the colorful life of rural communities and traditions. Her professional life naturally sprung out of these early references which punctuate her artistic work in multiple ways. Her estranged father’s early death propelled Antonia to commit to an art career. This loss intensified a search for a personal identity between cultures, the United States and Mexico. As a result, Antonia Guerrero, over more than four decades of artistic practice, cultivated an awareness of the intricate fabric of cultural idiosyncrasies stemming from historical, political, social and religious factors. All of these have been referenced to a greater or lesser degree in various art projects over the years. Given this breadth of themes, Antonia established a multi-disciplinary approach to her artwork in which drawing is a primary and pivotal feature in relation to other media. Her recent installation projects combine drawing and video, the still and moving image as a way of shifting our visual perceptions.