Guido Garaycochea

ARTIST STATEMENT

I have been working on a series of mixed-media paintings that celebrate non-conformist sexuality as a form of revelation and struggle against the patterns of behavior and aesthetics imposed by power. Each painting requires a detailed and delicate process including sourcing images, and adding layers of color – some transparent – to integrate the characters into their dollhouse environments. Making these paintings feels like a ceremony or mediation, and I make sure to listen to the murmurs that the characters whisper to me as they emerge.

Exhibiting this series in Permissions has allowed me to play with installation elements, creating a dollhouse space where the viewer becomes one of the characters. The use of gilt and brocades not only references my Catholic upbringing and memories of going to mass with my grandmother, but also a rich and celebratory queer aesthetic, both full of gilt, gold, pearls and shine. 

ABOUT THIS PAGE

This webpage provides both images and description to render a virtual experience of each artist’s work. Below is an image gallery that includes installation shots and details of Guido Garaycochea’s mixed-media collage and sculptural works. In-depth written descriptions that provide visual, contextual, and other sensory information are available below the image gallery. Audio recordings of this material are available through the SoundCloud embedded above.

IMAGE GALLERY & DESCRIPTIONS

INSTALLATION

Guido Garaycochea’s series of mixed media collages are hung on four walls of a small room of about 12’ x 12’ at the center of the EFA Project Space Gallery. All of the walls inside this room are painted a Pepto-Bismol-bubblegum pink. Rows of opulent gold wallpaper underline the collages. And scoops of gold drapery, made from embellished netting, run along the top of the walls, completing the fantasy. The collages are all 24” x 24” and hung at about 59” to their center. 

Faded dreams room, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas. 24" x 24".

This collage depicts a yellow room with reflective tiled floors. Inside the room are many figures seemingly taken from magazines and paintings. A shirtless, buff person, who appears to be a white man, with facial hair on their chin and a tattoo circling their forearm, stands in a macho pose, emerging from a gilded frame flanked by rooster’s wings, as if an angel. The frame in which this figure appears hangs above a suspended ball, sprouting flowers, and a patterned buck. Behind the buck, a Greer Lankton doll sits in a pink plush chair, wearing only red panties and thigh high stockings, smiling with bare breasts and a blonde bob. Next to the doll, a naked burly person, who appears to be a white man, lays in bed, resting one hand on their hairy belly, sleeping with one arm raised and a red tropical flower on their head. This figure lays next to a thinner person, who appears to be a white man, who sits on the edge of the bed, fully clothed looking at the audience. An explorer’s hat is affixed to this figure’s head. At their feet is a dollhouse, and, next to it, two pairs of intertwined legs stick out from beneath the bed. At the center of the image, a person, who appears to be a white man and a model wearing athletic wear, holds on to the edges of their vest, making a seductive gaze at the audience. On top of their head is a wreath, sprouting a series of brown branches and pink flowers. At their feet are another dollhouse, red heels, and a still life painting. Behind them, an empty gilded frame appears in front of a classical painting of a person, who appears to be a white woman, wearing a loose tunic that exposes their shoulders, leaning back their head in seeming pleasure or pain. Behind the painting is a painted classical figure of a person, who appears to be a white man wearing a powdered wig, raising their arms overhead, their belly protruding as they yawn. Behind them is another gilded frame with a photo of what appears to be a naked white person from their chiseled torso to just below their long circumcised penis. This frame hangs next to a landscape cropped by the edge of the frame. 

I'm always watching you, you can't hide from me, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24".

This collage depicts a room in a house with the ceiling taken off, like one might do to a dollhouse. Inside the house are many figures in a living room taken from magazines. Peering over the top of the wall, as if peeking over a fence, is a central figure adorned in light white makeup, wearing elbow length black gloves, several ornate silver bracelets, a gigantic heart ring on one ring finger and a giant diamond on their opposite pinky. They are wearing thick eyebrows and a painted hat that resembles a strawberry, rendered in a hairy reddish brown fabric. On top of the strawberry is a painting of a barn owl. Perched on the figure’s forearm is a green and red tropical bird. Behind the owl and the figure is an impressionistically painted, cloudy blue sky and a smattering of green palm leaves. In the open house, inside the living room, are three people who appear to be fashion models. One appears to be a white man wearing a black t-shirt and jeans with a translucent calf-length skirt painted over their pants. A person who appears to be a white woman smiles at them, wearing a blue patterned sweater, a calf-length skirt, and a handkerchief tying back their hair. In the foreground is a fashion model making a disaffected look toward the audience. They are white with pale skin and dark eye makeup, wearing a sweater with a black panther printed on it. Shoulder length black hair appears to have been drawn on their head with pen or paint. In the center is a figure who appears to be a white woman, printed in a black-and-white magazine, wearing a leather hat and a tight leather dress that rides up at their butt, black elbow-length gloves and calf-length black leather boots. They crouch down and look at the audience holding their bare thighs. Next to them, a person, who appears to be a white man and a boss of some kind, wearing a black suit with no tie, is being helped into a camel colored jacket by a bald person who also appears to be a white man. On the wall behind them is a wall of windows, a makeshift robot constructed partially from a type of fan that usually sets on suburban roofs, a large upside down photo sliding onto the floor depicting a person who appears to be a woman, living room furniture, a giant arrangement of flowers and an apple, along with a bare tree branch growing from the floor. 

I am a shy girl, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24".

This collage depicts a series of figures and frames in a room with a brown wood floor and a white wall. In the center are two figures. One appears to be a white person with blonde hair in their 50s or older, brushing their hair behind their ear, looking at the audience with a seemingly fatigued or annoyed expression. They stand wearing a leather tunic on top of jester pants and white stockings and high heels, next to a person who appears to be white, in their 50s and in drag. This figure sits on their heels, kneeling on the floor, wearing an exaggerated black bouffant and bright turquoise eye shadow, a silver bare-shouldered dress that ends high above their knees, and pumps. They smile with their eyes behind a gilded frame that is suspended around them. A very large handbag and sharp high heeled boots are in the foreground. Above the kneeling figure, a person, who appears to be a Black man in their 20s or 30s, wearing a white button down shirt, sits on top of a chandelier, with their hands on their knees, casting a sidelong glance at the audience. Above this figure, a gigantic white person is seen only from the waist down, wearing sheer stockings attached to garters under a lifted hoop skirt. This giant lowers one hand to hold the head of the figure sitting on the chandelier, as if they are being placed there like a doll in a doll house. In the background, another white person’s hand emerges from a gilded frame, as if setting down a skinny person, who appears to be a white man in his 40s or 50s, wearing a turtleneck, on a gilded stool, next to an empty gilded frame and a dollhouse. A group of four smiling people of seemingly various ages, who appear to be white, next to a person with browner skin, who appears to be a woman, are pasted upside down at the top of the collage. Classical paintings fill three other frames on the wall.

Greer Lankton's dolls, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24".

In this collage, two levels of a house are visible as they would be seen in a doll house with an open wall. On the top level is a room with a dark brown tiled floor. Several of Greer Lankton’s dolls appear there. One sets with legs crossed, feet dangling over the edge of the floor, wearing black flats. The doll appears to be a white person wearing a black dress with a criss crossing blue apron on top, deep red lipstick, looking down to the level of the house below with pursed lips, dark red rouge, and thick eye makeup, with curly blonde hair that ends just beneath the ears. Behind this doll is a fireplace. In the background is a doll that appears to be a white person who is bald with hollow cheeks, bare breasts, an emaciated stomach, and black panties, holding one hand out as if holding a cigarette, the other hand on their hip. This doll stands next to another one who wears a version of Jackie O’s famous pink suit, pillbox hat and heels. Another doll is just a head, hanging upside down as if cascading from a long streak of brown hair. They smile wearing red lipstick. Their head appears over a dollhouse. On the level below, there’s a group of four people, who appear to be white, cut out of a black-and-white magazine, all seemingly posing for a camera––three of whom appear to be women, wearing dresses and makeup, the fourth appearing to be a man wearing a suit. Immediately behind them is a dollhouse. They appear in the foreground next to a young person, who appears to be a white girl, wearing a beret and a raincoat and looking forlorn. Behind the young person is a row of giant makeup brushes in front of a person who appears to be a white woman wearing a purple dress holding a tray of food and smiling over their shoulder, standing on a platform next to the top half of an erect penis. Behind them is a painting of Jesus and Mary after his crucifixion and a series of wailing people in the foreground. Next to them, there appears to be a stock photo of what appears to be a suited salesman showing a work of contemporary art to another person in a suit. In front of them, a person, who appears to be a white man, looks downcast at the floor, wearing a newsboy cap setting on two leather stools. Next to this figure, a suited person, who appears to be a white man, sits on a coffee table smiling at the audience, wearing yellow rubber gloves and holding a spray bottle. A mullet has been painted onto this figure’s head. Behind them is a gilded frame of a classical painting of a white person, who looks at the audience with a limp wrist bent toward their chest. 

Sarah and Page, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24".

In this collage, there’s a room whose ceiling appears to be open so that some figures in the image are sticking their heads through it, and others are standing on it as if it is a floor. On the top level of the image, a series of classical paintings hang askew, with a Black Barbie doll standing in the foreground of a scene of two white people talking on a terrace. The Barbie doll is connected by a string to a group of three other white Barbies and a white Ken doll. Between these dolls is a person, taken from a magazine, who appears to cradle in their arms the bodies of two lovers, who are cradling one another in a painting––one of whom appears to be a naked and voluptuous white woman. On the other side of this level are two more Barbie dolls connected by string, one of which is standing on the thigh of a naked muscular person, who appears to be a white man, who sits with their head buried in their hand, facing away from the audience. Sticking out through the ceiling of this floor and extending with their bodies down into the room below, as if giants, are two figures––one is a person, who appears to be a white woman and a model, with a 1950s hairstyle painted on their head, wearing pearls; the other is a mannequin with a brown wig. Both wear polka-dotted dresses and stand facing each other on the level below. On the level above, their heads are facing the audience making their postures impossibly distorted. One of the giants holds an object that dangles from their hand and appears to reflect the face of a Barbie Doll. The other one is connected to a statue of a Virgin Mary by a rope. Behind her is a poster of Uncle Sam that reads “I want your taxes.” In the background of this floor are more paintings and statues of the Virgin Mary, one of whom is tied to a person, who appears to be a woman, with short hair, wearing a blazer and a long skirt. A painted image of a broad-shouldered King Henry the 8th stands on a staircase that connects the two floors. A bald person, who appears to be a Black man, wearing shorts and a white button down, sits in front of a painting in front of the stairs in between two large stacks of play building blocks. In the foreground is a black-and-white image of a person, who appears to emerge from the floor, wearing a tiara, a ball gown, and diamond earrings. On the other side of the floor is a dog skateboarding wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses. 

Angel Rooster, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24” x 24”.

This collage depicts a group of figures sprinkled with images of eggs and roosters. The image is divided in two; on the top level there are two roosters surrounding a nest, in which an erect penis emerges from wings. Behind the roosters is a group of four people who appear to be white women and/or drag queens behind bars, three of whom are doing the three wise monkey poses. Next to the image is a magazine cutout of a person, who appears to be a Black man and a model, sitting on a bench posing for the camera. Next to this figure are two party girls, who appear to be white women, on a balcony wearing long dresses. Beneath this level is a bathroom with gold tiled walls. In the mirror on one of the walls is a reflection of a doll’s face. Next to this is an image of a person, who appears to be a white man and a model, wearing Banana Republic-type clothes with a bob painted onto their head and an image of bird plumage glued to their shoulders. At this figure’s feet, there is a case with a typewriter inside and the tip of a penis on the interior of the case. In the center of the image, there’s a white person wearing a dirndl dress with blonde hair and holding a baby doll in their hand and an erect penis in the crook of their arm. Behind this figure is the muppet Karli from Sesame Street, who is light green with yellow pigtails for ears and balances a nest with a golden egg on her head. Next to her a red and blue rooster stands on the basin of a bathtub; another person, who appears to be a white man and a model, stands in the bathtub wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. In the foreground, there’s an image of a bald person, who appears to be an East Asian man, with a long beard, looking at a puddle with a person standing on it. In the foreground is an assortment of eggs. 

The small meditation hotel, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24”

A series of adjacent rooms appear in a grid as if a life-size dollhouse, populated with figures from magazines. In one, a group of naked people, who appear to be white men, sit in what appears to have been taken in a sauna but has been transplanted to a domestic space with curtains. A bright red and yellow bird flies over them. Another room shows a white dog sitting on the floor in front of a background showing a t-shirt of an iconic image of two sailors kissing. Next to this is a room, where a person, who appears to be a white woman, in a ballgown sits on a chair behind a balcony. In the next room is an image of a hippie, who appears to be a white man, meditating in front of a gold framed photo of Jimmy Stewart’s eye and hand peeking out of the blinds, taken from Alfred Hitchock’s Rear Window; next to the hippie is a propped up golden frame of a reclining woman in a classical painting. On the second level, a Christ figure appears in front of a crowd in a classical painting. In front of the painting is a chair and a figure taken from a black-and-white magazine, wearing a cloud-shaped wig and a heart-shaped skirt. In the next room, two Greer Lankton dolls sit on a chair in front of a library. In the next room, a sculpture of a Medusa is clothed in a tight turquoise ensemble; a pair of high heeled boots set in front of the sculpture. It is adjacent to an empty bedroom with a modernist light fixture and furniture. On the bottom level, a bald person, who appears to be a white man, with a beard sits on a bench smiling at the camera in front of a chandelier and a bookshelf. In the adjacent room, two people who appear to be a white man and woman look at a framed artwork in what appears to be an art gallery. The adjacent room is a balcony filled with impressionistic clouds, which is next to a room, in which a person, who appears to be a man, is proposing on one knee to another person, who appears to be a man, who is being placed there by a giant white’s person’s hand. The person being proposed to faces the camera, propped on a stairwell with one arm and their hand on their hip with the other. A heart appears over their crotch. A person, who appears to be a white woman, wearing a red polka-dotted dress and a small purse, turns away from the couple and cries.

The afterparty is over, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24”

In this collage, two levels of a house are connected by a staircase that changes angles sharply midway. On the upper level, a person, who appears to be a white man and a model, lays on the floor in only their underwear, looking across the room at a chiseled person, who appears to be a white man taken from a black-and-white-magazine of the 1950s, who sits on an urn on the lower level. Behind this black-and-white figure are four photos hung on the wall, all the same size, one of two people, who appear to be white men, kissing, and three of a penis in the process of going from flaccid to hard to erect. Running across the room diagonally is a red carpet. Standing on it in the foreground is the fashion designer Marc Jacobs, who is tan and buff and has a closely cropped beard and colorful tattoos on his arms. He smiles with his eyes at the camera and wears a red polo dress in tight, Lycra-like fabric with black shoes with large silver buckles. Behind him on either side are two beds, one in which a person, who appears to be a white man, sleeps soundly with a naked figure laying on a bench in despair in front of the bed, whose penis lays between their crossed legs. In front of the bench, a bald, bearded person, who appears to be a Black man, wearing a black suit and glasses, is smiling midrun, toward a table with an extravagant spread of fruit and champagne. In the bed on the other side, a naked person, who appears to be a white man, lays on their belly, facing away from the camera, such that the bare bottoms of their feet are closest to the audience and take on most prominence. On the level above there is a sprite-like naked person, who appears to be a white boy,  seemingly taken from a classical painting with their foot tangled in a chandelier which swings below them. Behind the sprite is a photo of what appears to be a white woman artist posing in front of her artwork: a photograph of a person who appears to be a white woman in a dress sitting on a bench. Next to the sprite is a person, who appears to be white and dressed in drag, wearing a fringey red dress and a tangled mop of blonde hair covering one eye, with knees slightly bent. This person stands next to a skinny person, who appears to be a white woman and a model taken from a black-and-white magazine, who keeps both arms straight at their sides and looks over one shoulder across the room at something out of the frame. The model wears angel’s wings and red heels. At the far corner of the upper level is a person, who appears to be a white woman, wearing a white silky dress pulled up nearly to their crotch. With one hand this figure smokes; they hold the other hand between their thighs, bending one knee high and reclining back on the sofa slightly. The figure’s curly hair is piled high on their head like a Jane Austen character in a tv adaptation. They sit on pink bedsheets. 

Ignoring the exhibit, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24”.

Three levels of a house are shown in this collage without any apparent way of moving between floors or rooms. Most rooms are framed by curtains. On the upper level, the same reclined naked figure from the previous image appears laying on a white sofa now, their penis between their crossed legs. This figure appears next to a large pair of what appear to be white women’s feet wearing blue high heels. These feet appear next to a pair of what appears to be a woman’s crossed legs and the bottom of a voluminous black dress. A small staircase moves upward to the top of the frame. On the level of the house, below, there is a room in which a person, who appears to be a man and a dancer, holds the limp body of a person, who appears to be a woman. They are next to a room that features three pedestals with three severed erect penises on each. Next to this room is a person, who appears to be a woman, who sits smiling with her legs crossed on a pink sofa with strawberry pillow cushions. On the bottom level, there is a room where fashion icon Iris Apfel appears as a bust, with her white hair and large circular glasses. A barefoot person, who appears to be a man, appears to pray to her. They are next to a person, who appears to be a woman with the face of someone from a classical painting seemingly attached to their body, as they hold both sides of their face with their hands. In the next room, there is a library featuring numerous people including the young actor who plays Caravaggio’s model and lover in Derek Jarman’s film about the painter’s life. He seems to undo a long purple skirt that seems to have been painted onto his body. A Greer Lankton doll sits in a chair smoking a cigarette looking at two shirtless sailors who stare at the camera. The head of a person, who appears to be a white man and a model, appears above a pair of lips and a tongue licking them, displayed on a Grecian pedestal. Another person who appears to be a white man and a model wears a matching patterned bathing suit and button down shirt with the buttons undone. 

Those little games of the little house, 2019-20, mixed media collage on canvas, 24" x 24”.

Three levels of a house are shown in this collage without any apparent way of moving between floors or rooms, except by going out through the open wall as if the house is a dollhouse. Each room is framed by curtains. In the first room, a huge pair of red-high-heeled feet come through the top of the frame. A suit of knight’s armor is oriented as if walking along the wall. Two matching, buff, glistening naked people, who appear to be white men, taken from the pages of a magazine from the 1930s or 40s, appear above two buff speedo-clad people, who appear to be white men, holding hands. Behind them is a painting of what appears to be a man having sex with a woman with one of her legs on his shoulder. In the adjacent room, four people, who appear to be white men, taken from a black-and-white magazine, appear in matching wrestling uniforms, sitting on the ledge of the room. Behind them is an open window of a colorful photograph of autumn leaves on trees. In the adjacent room, a pair of Greer Lankton dolls sit on the ledge of a room in front of person, who appears to be a woman wearing a fur coat and a blue dress, attached by a rope to a warrior archangel taken from a classical painting. On the level below, a person, who appears to be a white man in a suit, raises their hands up to the sky in prayer, kneeling on the steps of a bunkbed. On the bottom bunk, a naked person, who appears to be a white man, kneels on the bed absorbed in their own world, a teddybear behind him. Standing next to the bunkbed posing is a person dressed in a floor-length red gown with a red stole and a red flower in their hair. In the adjacent room, there are four naked people, who appear to be white men. Two of them appear to be taken from a black-and-white-magazine. They are both buff and make poses, looking in opposite directions. One of them has been pasted with a sacred heart image on top of their chest. Laying on the floor in between them is a person, who appears to be a man, who lays on the floor, legs spread and knees bent, with their hand on their face in seeming despair. This figure wears a sock half hanging off their foot, which hangs down over the room below. In the background is a person, who appears to be a man, whose belly sticks out as they squat. They are in front of a green landscape, which can be seen through the window, which is next to a light fixture that swings. Next to this room is another where drag queen Trixie Mattel appears in a large blonde Dolly Parton wig and exaggerated eye makeup, wearing a pink dress. She sits on the floor with her legs going under her one way, her hands resting on the floor another. Behind her is a person, who appears to be a white man wearing a colorful casual outfit, resembling a DJ or tech bro. This person sits on a bed next to a dollhouse. On the bottom level, in one room is a group of five Black and Brown people dressed up in contemporary fashions, seemingly models, staring at the camera with serious expressions. Four of them appear to be women, with someone who appears to be a man, standing in the center. They are presented under a light fixture that casts a spotlight effect on them. In the adjacent room, a shirtless person, who appears to be a white man and a model, poses in jeans with their hands on their butt, facing the camera, standing behind a large dollhouse. In the adjacent room, a person who appears to be a white woman, kneels on the floor, smiling and talking on a rotary phone next to a pair of pink heels, a dollhouse, and a sofa, on which a painted naked person, who appears to be a white man, reclines. This figure is next to a buff naked person, who poses with their hands behind their back. Behind them are what appear to be family portraits. In the window behind them is a person wearing a lavender wig, who appears to be in drag. This figure seems like they’re trying to knock on the window to get into the house.

Altarpiece of the divine twigs, 2019, wooden box, branches, cold ceramic, plastic grass, oil paint, 10" x 8" x 5".

Inside what appears to be an open chess box, a forest of six erect penises grow from the ground in a forest diorama, as if saplings or mushrooms. The shafts of the penises are composed of thick, reddish-brown wooden sticks with the heads composed from cold ceramic. Each penis ranges slightly in height and is each distinct in texture, lean, and curvature. They grow up among fake green clover and yellow hay. On top of the chess box, on a black and white chessboard, a wooden banister appears in front of an enclosed tiny wood house with no apparent means of entry.

ARTIST BIO

Guido Garaycochea, born in Peru, is a Latino immigrant artist who works at the Queens Museum as the manager of the program for New New Yorkers. Guido moved to the United States in 2004, taught from 2004 until 2016 at Mitchell College in New London, CT, University of Connecticut, Three Rivers Community College in Norwich, CT, York Correctional in Niantic, CT, etc. He is the co-founder, curator and Artist in Residence Program Director of Expressiones Cultural Center in New London, CT, a nonprofit organization exclusively educational in nature. Guido moved in 2013 from Connecticut to NYC to resume art studies, graduating in 2015 from SVA with an MFA. Since then he has been an Artist in Residence at More Art / Engaging Artist in 2015 at that time focusing on volunteering and working with immigrant elders while participating in group exhibitions between CT and NYC.