Mariela Garibay "Precious Elegance"

Understanding the Curation

Precious Elegance explores the tension between softness and structure through the lens of materiality.

At its center are four bronze sculptures by Mariela Garibay, placed deliberately throughout our Atlanta gallery to converse with richly textured works by artists such as Zhuang Hong Yi, Rodrigo Franzao, and Santos. This juxtaposition of texture—stone against canvas, smooth bronze against visceral paintings—invites the viewer to consider not only form, but feeling.

The Dialogue Between Texture and Form

What happens when a smooth, rounded bronze form is placed in front of a heavily layered, textural canvas? A moment of stillness.

In Precious Elegance, Garibay’s sculptures become both contrast and complement to the tactile richness of surrounding works. Placed in front of sculptural paintings—Zhuang’s vivid floral compositions or Franzao’s architectural wall works—her figures act as points of calm within more complex visual environments. The result is an elevated sensory experience, where materiality becomes language.

Contrast Through Santos and Mariela Garibay

Explore the relationship between art and placement through Mariela Garibay’s Chance against Santos’s most recent series, featuring El Fondo del Jardin, Unica Flor, and Tres Flores. Garibay’s Chance, a small, rounded figure radiating innocence, sits in front of the force of Santos’s monumental abstract works. Garibay’s soft curves and introspective posture, holds space quietly. Its smooth bronze surface catches the light gently, inviting a slow, emotional read. Behind it, Santos’s canvases offer a stark contrast. Monumental in scale and visceral in texture, his series centers on a blue form—part flower, part gesture—surrounded by raw, expressive swashes of paint.

Seen together, these works illuminate one another. The calm restraint of Chance makes the movement in Santos’s paintings feel even more dynamic. In turn, the intensity of Santos’s palette and scale casts Garibay’s sculpture in a new light—revealing its quiet strength. This pairing is less about harmony than it is about balance: how opposing energies, when placed intentionally, can bring out unexpected nuances in both.

Who is Mariela Garibay?

Mariela Garibay is a Peruvian artist known for her tender bronze figures, often portraying simplified, childlike forms with expressions of joy, reflection, and presence.

Her work transcends cultural and linguistic barriers, evoking universal emotions through body language, posture, and gesture.

Grounded in the language of innocence and calm, Garibay’s sculptures carry a quiet emotional weight that gently anchors any space they inhabit.