Central and South American embassies in Seoul brought to Seoul, with Gallery Bellarte and Araart, paintings by Latin American artists, some exhibiting to the public here for the first time. The exhibition opened at Araart’s gallery in Insadong on Sept. 28 and closed Sunday.

The exhibition was a part of celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Korea and some 16 Latin American countries.

Paintings by artists from such painters as Hernan Miranda of Paraguay and Juan Alfredo Enriquez and Roger Sanguino of Venezuela piqued the interest of some local collectors and dealers at the exhibition opening.

“Exhibitions like this one are important to introduce Latin American artists to the Korean public, and this exhibition has already generated quite a lot of interest,” said Se-hee Kim, exhibition director for the Ibero-American Art Fair.

The paintings of Hernan Miranda were of particular interest at the exhibition’s opening with envoys of four Latin American countries participating. Costa Rican Ambassador Manuel Lopez Trigo, Panamanian Ambassador to Korea Aram B. Cisneros, Guatemalan Ambassador to Korea Rafael Antonia Salazar Galvez and Paraguayan Ambassador to Korea Ceferino Valdez were on hand at the exhibition.

“This exhibition presents a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the strong ties that we have forged in 50 years of ties between Latin America and Korea,” Valdez said.

Paraguayan artist Miranda was born in Concepcion City in the country’s north in 1960 and began publicly showing his work in 1987.

Upon studying the form and colors of composition, Miranda views light as a protagonist in his the paintings. He is developing a “Bi-realism series,” which consist of integrating wood panel, canvas, paper, pasteboard and other materials into the painting.

He believes this conserves its visual aesthetics while bringing together the real and the virtually real. He taught painting at the “Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes” (National Fine Arts School) of Paraguay from 1993 to 1997.

Since 1998 he has been teaching painting at a private studio and gives seminars at many art institutions. Miranda lives and works in the United States. His paintings are exclusively exhibited in Exor Galleries in Boca Raton, Florida.

By Philip Iglauer (ephilip2011@heraldcorp.com)