Biography

Costa Rican artist, Barbara Odio Yglesias (1961-) grew up in the countryside and painted since early childhood. She began her career in the Department of fine arts at the University of Costa Rica, and developed her artistic vision during the 16 years she lived in the rainforests of Costa Rica, starting with oil paint and acrylic,  and later experimenting on canvas with the clay she found in rivers beaches and mountains.

She lived on the Osa Pennisula, on the Pacific southwest coast of Costa Rica (1984-2000), where the natural lifestyle of the country costarican, and the wild flora and fauna inspired her colorful early paintings.  The series of oil and acrylic paintings Visions of the Rainforest, reflect her immersion in the rainforest and the rural life of the Osa.  The next period in her artistic development emerged in the volcanic landscape of lake Arenal (2001-2006)  where she produced the series of paintings entitled  Rebirths. In these oil-based paintings she explores the unconscious of the female psyche by re-inscribing icons such as the moon, serpent and flower - often associated negatively  with being female - to recapture their power and  emancipate the “New Woman” as well as herself. The “New Woman” emerges with a liberated vision of the old stereotypes that used to oppress her. 

 

In 2011, back in the city where she grew up, O. Yglesias embarked on a new artist endeavor by recapturing her old technique of clay painting and adding sand  - with the series entitled Earth Art. In this recent series she combines the patterns and shapes she found in nature with elemental pigments of the earth;  as a counter discourse to  the progress-based modernity and urban life found in San Jose today.