Helen Escobedo

Helen Escobedo
Helen Escobedo, 1960 photographed byKati Horna
Born	(1934-07-28)July 28, 1934 Mexico City, Mexico
Died	September 16, 2010(2010-09-16)(aged 76) Mexico City, Mexico
Known for	Sculpture
Spouses	Fredrik Kirsebom ​ ​ (m.1957⁠–⁠1977)​ Hans-Jürgen Rabe ​ (m.1995)​

Helen"Elena"Escobedo(July 28, 1934 – September 16, 2010) was a Mexican sculptor andinstallation artistwho has had work displayed all over the world fromMexico,Latin America, the United States, and Canada to the United Kingdom, (Germany), as wellIsraelandNew Zealand.

Her career as an artist spanned more than fifty yearsand explores ecological and urban problems throughland art.Her works are site-oriented and ephemeral.

Early life

Escobedo was born on July 28, 1934, to a Mexican lawyer father and an English mother inMexico City.She was educated in her home in a small neighborhood setting with her younger brother Miguel, taught by a French governess until the age of ten. At a young age, she learned ballet until she outgrew it. She was taught violin bySander Roth,who at the time was a member of the world-famousLener Quartet.Even though she became proficient with her violin skills, Escobedo eventually decided to switch to art.

Education

At the age of 15 in 1949, she decided to enroll at theMexico City Collegeand attended art classes in the afternoon twice a week. At Motolinia University, she took art classes under an abstract sculptor,Germán Cuetowhere she experimented with many different materials. Impressed by her work, ProfessorJohn Skeaping,a British sculptor from theRoyal College of Art,encouraged her to pursue sculpture. He offered her a one-year grant to study in London at his institution, where she attended eventually with a three-year scholarship. She studied under the guidance ofFrank Dobson,Henry Moore,Jacob Epstein,Leon Underwood,and for a short time,Ossip Zadkine.In her second year, she wrote her thesis:Renoir and Degas: Two Impressionists in Sculpture.

She got her bachelor's degree in Humanitiesat Motolinia University in Mexico and her master's degree in Sculpture from theRoyal College of Artin London, U.K. by 1954 at the age of 20.

Career

Aside from sculpture, Escobedo was a talented painter, printmaker, installation artist, writer, performance artist, lecturer, curator, and museum director in her lifetime.

Escobedo accepted the position be the head and served as director of theMuseo de Arte Modernoand the Department of Museums and Galleries at theUniversidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico(UNAM) in 1960, where she worked until 1978, organizing exhibitions.As she worked as director, she continued her craft and completed commissions as well as exhibitions of her own work. She would go on to serve as the Director of the Museum of Modern art between 1982 and 1984. From 1985 to 1989, she worked as an art curator of the Museum of the UNAM, specializing in international exhibitions. Having left her directorial role in art administration, Escobedo decided to concentrate on her own work.

Exhibitions

Her first solo exhibition was held in 1956 at theGaleria de Arte Mexicanoin Mexico City. It included her works made of bronze, drawings, and paintings. After marrying Fredrik Kirsebom, a Norwegian, they moved to Sweden where Escobedo spent two years learning about her new home and making some religious sculptures that would be shown in her second solo exhibition at theGalería de Arte Mexicanowhen she returned to Mexico two years later.

In 1968,Mathias Goeritzinvited her to participate in theRuta de la Amistad(Route of Friendship)for the XIX1968 Summer Olympicsin Mexico City, for which she made the sculpture calledPuertas al Viento (Gateway to the Wind).The Route of Friendship was constructed to be an Olympic highway consisting of monumental sculptures made by selected artists. It was her first large-scale sculpture piece. In the same year, Escobedo set up an exhibition, self-produced and curated byWilloughby Sharpfeaturing fifteen large-scale environments made by many individual international artists.

When Escobedo mounted herDynamic Wallsexhibition, it traveled to different cities starting inPraguebut eventually became lost on its journey to Rome. It reappeared in 1971 in poor condition that resulted in her method of creating temporary or ephemeral works at the location for a one-time installation rather than let her work travel and become ruined again. This would become her signature, known internationally, to create site-oriented ephemeral sculptures using materials that are available at or near the site.

Escobedo created a paper mural at the Galería Pecanins inBarcelonain 1973. The following year, she held another exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art and at this point, was also the director of the Department of Museums and Galleries.

In 1978, Escobedo createdCoatl,at the University Cultural Center of UNAM in Mexico City, out of steel girders painted yellow to orange to red measuring to 15 meters.

As a statement, her exhibit calledNegro basura, negro mañana (Black garbage, black tomorrow)in 1991 was made up of painted black garbage, three meters wide stretching at one hundred feet insideChapultepec Parkin Mexico City that lasted three days. As the years go by, she participated in many other exhibitions throughout the world.

Her next solo exhibition show was calledEstar y no estarand was displayed at the University Museum in 2000. Two years later, she did three exhibitions, one in Mexico City calledSalón Bancomerand the other two in Germany calledDie Fluctlinge: The RefugeesandBicycle Taxi.The following year she returned to her home of Mexico City for herescasr Ríos Perenesexhibit.

Through 2007 to 2008, Escobedo continued her exhibitions in various locations with another in Germany as well as another four in Mexico. AtWakefieldin the United Kingdom, she had a solo exhibition calledSummer Field.In 2010, she would have her last solo exhibition in her home of Mexico City under her own name.

Awards

Escobedo competed in theUNAMsculpture competition and was awarded a prize in 1976. Entering with a small team of two other architects to design a building in 1980, they received the outstanding achievement Reaseguradora Patria for winning.

She was awarded theGuggenheim Fellowshipfor Creative Arts, Latin America & Caribbean in 1991.In 1999, she was awarded theFONCAcreators’ grant.

Publications

Escobedo was also a writer whose works were published in public collections. She even conceived and coordinated a book in 1989 calledMexican Monuments: Strange Encountersthat was printed in both Spanish and English that was met with equal success.It was her way of recording her Mexican heritage with the help ofPaolo Gori.In 1999, she contributed an article entitled, “Work as process or work as product: a conceptual dilemma” to the compilation ofMortality Immortality?: The Legacy of 20th-century.

In 2004,Graciela Schmilchukwrote a book filled with Escobedo's s installations calledHelen Escobedo: Steps on the Sandwith a prologue written byDore Ashton.

Later life

Escobedo had two children with Fredrik Kirsebom, Andrea in 1962 and a son, Michael in 1964.She obtained a divorce in 1977. Her mother died following the 1985 Mexico City earthquake. By 1987, Escobedo decided to split her year, six months at a time between living in Mexico and in Germany with her partner Hans-Jürgen Rabe whom she married in 1995. In 2003, Escobedo had a hip-bone replacement due to a sudden fall. Her first granddaughter was born as she celebrated her seventieth birthday in 2004. She lived in Mexico City,Sweden,Germany,Hamburg,andBerlin

On September 16, 2010,Helen Escobedo died in her hometown of Mexico City at the age of 76.