Works from the Venice Biennale at the Ecuadorian Embassy

Ecuadorian artist exhibits works from the Venice Biennale at the Ecuadorian Embassy in DC
Ecuadorian artist María Verónica León presented "The Divine Promise: Water and Gold" at the Ecuadorian Embassy in Washington on May 6, featuring works created for the Venice Biennale and a previously unseen portrait of the First Lady of the United States.

Ecuadorian artist María Verónica León, the first woman from her country to exhibit in a Paris museum and to represent Ecuador with her own pavilion at the Venice Biennale, presented her most recent exhibition in Washington, DC, on May 6. The exhibition, titled "The Divine Promise: Water and Gold," opened at the Ecuadorian Embassy to an audience invited by the Chargé d'Affaires, Soledad Peña Plaza.

The exhibition included works originally created for the 56th Venice Biennale in 2015, where León presented "Gold Water: Apocalyptic Black Mirrors" in Ecuador's first-ever national pavilion. A previously unseen portrait of the First Lady of the United States, created for the 250th anniversary of the country's independence, was also unveiled.

From Guayaquil to Venice, Paris, and Dubai
María Verónica León Veintimilla was born in Guayaquil in 1971. She graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Central University of Ecuador in 1996, specializing in painting and printmaking. In 1996, at the direct invitation of the master Oswaldo Guayasamín, she collaborated on the mural painting at the Chapel of Man in Quito, an early milestone in her career.

In 1998, she moved to Paris, where she lived and worked for 15 years. There, she became the first contemporary Ecuadorian artist to exhibit in France, with shows at the Musée du Petit Palais (2008), Galerie Nesle, Théâtre de la Ville, and Nuit Blanche, among other venues. In 2007, she participated in the 52nd Venice Biennale as part of the Italo-Latin American Pavilion.

The most significant moment came in 2015, when León secured Ecuador's first-ever national pavilion at the Venice Biennale. Her project, "Gold Water: Apocalyptic Black Mirrors," occupied the Santa Maria della Pietà Institute, just steps from the Grand Canal, with 24 metal photographs, video and audio installations, and works that explored water and gold as sources of Ecuador's natural wealth.