Aurora? ARTBO? Art? Love?... Andrea Walker

Not by chance, the A, first letter of the alphabet, follows this woman wherever she goes. She is number one wherever she is, in any job performed. She leaves deep traces where she goes. She is simple, elegant, educaded, kind, enterprising, with a charisma rose from the soul, an enigmatic personality, and behind that apparent feminine fragility hides a human being of steel, just like the dancers. She never gives up, and everything she touches blooms. It's hard to forget when you're known ...

I present Andrea Walker.

In that art hive, full of works, artists, gallerists, critics, specialists and the general public, -in which Corferia is transformed, in Bogotá, when the ARTBO Art Fair appears every five days-, in this 2018 a space of particular brightness has been added: that of the Aurora Gallery, space for art and design. Not only because the works presented there exhale a singular breath, which steals many looks. That of two young artists: John Nomesqui and Paloma Castello, who exhibit, the first, works related to ecology, based on an attractive / intelligent concept, using waste paper that transforms into tree covers ..., and, the second, with an exquisite hand for drawing, also includes, mind and technology, to create installations.

Behind this project, there is the hand of Andrea Walker, who has been managing the Aurora Gallery for three years (located in the Polo Club neighborhood, near San Felipe, galleries area in Bogotá), and which supports stand A61, in the Main section of ARTBO. With a smile, she talked with Arte por Excelencias at the fairgrounds, interrupted at every moment by the spectators who come to greet her ... In Aurora, she expressed, I show contemporary art, and, in general, emergent, to develop the different platforms National and international. With great success this year she has carried out her gallery, 6 exhibitions, between individuals and groups, with a portfolio of artists who have innovative proposals on environmental issues, mostly.

Why Art and Design?

Purpose of Aurora, is to incorporate increasingly frequent samples of design - she said - of jewelry, ceramics, real estate design ..., and although its purpose is utility, I incorporate that creative process, which is, in the end, what interests The gallery. Something smart in these times. We have to open the spectrum ... And we expose there an art close to handicraft with great invoice.

A bit like getting closer to the roots ... More to the origin, said the Walker, something that is working hard, the creators look back, to the past, to find and address their identity. And I am very happy with what has been done so far. I love everything I do.

A question is imposed, something that although she did not say, surely my interlocutor expected, and many ask, since Andrea Walker is the founding director, between 2004-2011 of this important Fair that has revolutionized the Art in this city: how has been the change of direction of a Fair to be in front of a gallery and exhibit in a stand here? It has been strange, I do not deny it, but pleasantly surprising.

Her eyes express joy with certain tints of nostalgia ... But she quickly returns to the present, smiles, as if remembering the birth of something very hers, very beautiful, that has grown, has developed rapidly, and looks hard for the future. And the thread of the dialogue continues.

Pleasantly surprising, she repeats the answer, not only for the quality of the sample, the design and its organization, but also for the pleasant welcome made by the Chamber of Commerce of Bogotá, and ARTBO.

I had felt like at home, that change has generated me a lot of serenity, because, it has allowed me this role from the gallerist perspective. Although the trajectory had to be the other way around, first gallerist, and later director of a Fair, emphasized. To be able, above all, to understand the dynamics, difficulties that gallerists have to participate in a meeting like this. But it has allowed me a perfect understanding of the role they play, both the organizers of the Fair and the participating gallerists. I enjoyed the two perspectives, and I always enjoy the work of the artists.

ARTBO today?

She looks around, her eyes go over the different stands of more than 70 galleries of 20 countries from almost all the continents that surrounds her, the immensity of space and time ... It is undoubtedly like a child that grows, develops completely, has been a process, but with a very, very positive evolution of learning, every year, each edition one learns, and, of course, adds the knowledge of how to raise the international level, and very important, the national, ours. It is beautiful to see how this city vibrates every October, how art fills us and the people, children, young people, all. It is heartwarming.