We were lucky to catch up with Catalina Guirado recently and have shared our conversation below.
Catalina, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
After my father, Juan Antonio Guirado, passed in 2010 I took on the task of looking after his art estate. He had withdrawn himself from the major art world having become disillusioned by it, though he was one of Spain’s rising stars throughout the 1970s with international exhibitions, awards, and critical acclaim, with works placed in major collections including the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid ( home of Picasso’s Guernica). My parents separated when I was seven resulting in my moving to England with my Mother and I did not have any contact with him until I was in my late 20s. I knew little about his art other than the paintings on the wall and memories of his art studio in Spain and attending exhibitions as a child. As our family reconnected and we started spending vacations visiting him I began to understand the importance of him as an artist and philosopher and the respect with which the local community showed him calling him Maestro and hanging on his every word. His interest in metaphysics, spirituality, and environmentalism was beyond today’s trend with much of his back catalog of works from the 70’s and 80’s depicting images of the planet’s destruction, man’s greed, and endless quest for spiritual answers. Having not grown up with him I found it hard to connect but as I spoke to him about his paintings and he tried to show me the hidden messages within them I realised that I had grown up naturally interested in the same things reading books on spirituality and metaphysics, exploring different cultures and beliefs without prompting from anyone. The connection was there all along.
In 2017, seven years after his death, the University of Jaén contacted me in regards to celebrating Guirado as the artist of the region as a result of the success of a couple of exhibitions in Madrid that received mass media coverage. 2018 was the 25th Anniversary of the University and they were planning a series of high-profile events throughout the year. This exhibit would celebrate their art history program celebrating Spanish art. The University has its own incredible art collection including Picasso, Miro, Tapies, and premier Spanish masters gifted to them as part of the Cesario Rodriguez- Aguilera (1916-2016) foundation. The idea was for a group exhibition to be curated showcasing Guirado alongside Picasso, Miro, etc. The show was titled ‘Parallel Visionaries’ and curated by Laura Revuelta ( Art critic and editor-in-chief of ABC Culture magazine) who had led a panel discussion and written an essay for her magazine ABC Culture, on Guirado for a previous exhibition that was covered in magazines including Vanity Fair, Arte, and L’Officiel Arte. My job was to oversee all these logistics from my home in Los Angeles whilst overseeing an overlapping exhibit of Guirado at the Coral Gables Museum, FL.
In March 2018 I flew to Madrid, Spain to collect works that were in storage and drive to the University’s gallery in Jaén where the art was unloaded and placed alongside the other works. I watched as my father’s paintings were hung alongside the great Spanish masters and felt an enormous sense of pride for him wishing he could be there to see this happen. Going for a walk around the town I saw banners hanging from the street lamps promoting the exhibition and realized that this was an extraordinary moment for Jaén and the Guirado Estate. The opening of the exhibition was attended by the Mayor and covered by the regional news team as well as gaining national and international press. I remember feeling that this was a pivotal moment for me and knew it was going to be the start of life-changing circumstances and the direction in which I wanted to take the art estate establishing a strong bond with the University and city of Jaén.
As a result of this, the following September I returned with my father’s close friend Helio Clemente who had sculpted a bronze bust of my father that was being placed in the local art school ‘Hosé Nogue’ where he had attended as a child. Our new friend the Mayor did the unveiling and we were surrounded by the local news team, family, locals, and art students.
Despite the pandemic bringing a halt to discussions with the city I have started reconnecting with them and I hope to create a foundation in 2024/25 that will provide educational scholarships for students as well as an international arts program as well as a permanet exhibiton at teh Muesum of Jaén.
Catalina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I’m a British/Spanish ( born in New Zealand) female immigrant living here in Los Angeles for the last 22 years.
I got involved in art and design as a result of a series of consequences in life. Having grown up as the daughter of an artist I attended art exhibitions and hung out with artists, agents, and the bohemian set since I could walk so it makes sense I was to come full circle,
I made my name as a London ‘It Girl’ fashion model in the late 90s/00s doing the model circuit in Paris, Milan, London, etc. before becoming a television host and celebrity on British TV. I became really disillusioned with being in the spotlight and tabloids so I moved to Los Angeles in 2001 for a change of scenery and some sun after being signed to Universal Music Publishing as a singer-songwriter ( I attended the Guildhall of Music and Drama playing violin at the Royal Albert Hall when I was 12). I gradually moved behind the camera and developed my entrepreneurial skills becoming a creator and director of one of the first digital music streaming sites in 2008 and then as a creative consultant before taking over the rebranding of my father, internationally acclaimed Spanish painter, Juan Antonio Guirado ( 1932-2010)art estate after his passing in 2010.
Over the last 13 years, I have become an expert in art event planning, curation, estate structuring, and marketing and have been interviewed for television and radio on the subject, hosted a Soho House breakfast talk on Art and Virtual Reality, and have been featured in the major international press including Vanity Fair, LOVE, ELLE, L’Officiel Art, AD Magazine, Marie Claire and Arte. I have also enjoyed being part of the Leadership Circle at MOCA; Patron of the Tate Americas Foundation and Advisory Board at Los Angeles Art Association in Los Angeles.
As a result of all of the above I recently started a boutique consultancy called ‘The Art VIP’. I wanted to help other emerging artists and small galleries by offering creative ideas and insights into how to structure and showcase their art and connect them to an audience. Many artists don’t think about how to manage their collections and the longevity of their careers and need a little helping hand to organize themselves. Also, people find themselves as the inheritors of art and have no idea what to do. I have years of experience in this and want to help people in what is an emotional and overwhelming experience.
As an artist and designer in my own right, I have recently been experimenting with digital art creating a series of NFTs of my father’s paintings that I digitally animated to create thought-provoking immersive installations that emphasize the environmental and social consciousness behind the original visionary paintings. I also create textile designs using select works of art by my father and re-imagining them as textiles which lend themselves beautifully to fabric print and design creating statement pieces such as silk scarves. I started my own fashion-focused equestrian sportswear label ‘Caballo Design’ focusing on hiViz UV protective sports tops to help riders be seen on the roads and trails as well as ‘horse girl’ fashion.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
During the pandemic, I took the time to go back to school (so to speak) and took a number of online University diploma certification courses that I thought might be useful including social marketing, I have always been on social media but didn’t really understand the deeper side to it for business so I found it really useful to learn the skills that I had previously relied on other people for. As an artist or someone in the arts, I highly recommend getting a strong understanding of all aspects of the business so you don’t get ripped off and don’t need to rely on others all the time. There are a ton of courses available online as well as excellent books. I also bought Art Law books, contract templates, and books on art estates that I’ve read several times and made notes in the margins. Now I have all the resources I need at my fingertips and have a better understanding so that I don’t waste time or money when I do need to hire a specialist for a particular job.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
Funnily I was asked to be a consultant on a British NFT start-up when the trend suddenly hit. I took a look at what was going on and advised them not to bother. It seemed that everyone was jumping on the bandwagon and there was no real substance there. Having been at the forefront of the digital music scene helping create one of the first major music streaming sites in 2008 we were about two years too early with our site and I went on to consult other start-ups about ‘how not to do it’ as we learned the hard way. I feel the NFTs will have a place in the future of the art world but the real power in them is for proof of authenticity and provenance with exciting blockchain development. I have experimented with creating NFTs myself but in my mind, I’m creating digital art installations that just happen to have a blockchain attached.
Contact Info:
- Website: catalinaguirado.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catalinaguirado/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/catalinaguiradocheadle/
- Other: caballodesign.com guiradoestate.com
Image Credits
Uxio Davila – Portrait of Catalina Craig Barett – Gallery VIPs