Federico Guzmán considers himself, both as an artist and as a human being, to be an extension of nature. This approach is patent in his work of recent decades.

His experience in such far-away places as South America and the Western Sahara are evident in his work. The Banco de España Collection contains a considerable number of pieces derived from his time in Colombia: a painting that follows the outlines of photography, Yagé (2000); a scientific drawing with post-colonial overtones, Theobroma cacao (2000); a psychedelic collage The Mistress of the Yucca (2000); and Bacano (1998), drawings and texts scribbled on a background with motifs that are reminiscent of the jungle, referring to a place which for Guzmán was 'bacano' (pleasant).

The Mistress of the Yucca and Yagé are both related to a ritual performed by the Mai Huna tribe to petition the gods for a good yucca (or cassava) harvest: the 'Master of the Yucca' invites neighbours, friends and relatives to help gather in the tubers and is in charge of directing and distributing the harvest. The 'Mistress of the Yucca', plays a similar role — albeit under her husband's supervision — with the female guests. The consumption of yagé (or ayahuasca), a hallucinogenic beverage, also forms part of the ritual. In Theobroma cacao, Federico Guzmán does not represent the cocoa itself, instead reducing it to a single leaf. Cocoa lies at the heart of numerous religious rites. Cocoa beans were once used as currency and cocoa exports now represent a major source of income.

In contrast, an older work, Blackboard Jungle V, XI, I (1994), is related to the use of blackboards, a common feature of the artist's work in the 1990s. It is a participatory, collaborative piece, in which high school students are invited to add phrases, drawings, etc. expressing their concerns. The title is taken from a 1955 film by Richard Brooks which tells how a teacher in a tough inner-city school manages to inspire delinquent teens. The piece takes the form of a sort of cartography of the relationships between the students of that time and place.

With its ecological and a social message, the piece in the Banco de España Collection, Untitled (2001) is a photograph of a drawing of a plant made with mirrors, in which we see the artist himself reflected.

Isabel Tejeda