When you enter “Uncle Albert’s Studio” you will find the following drama according to Patti and Coop Cooprider, who bought the large painting by Cienfuegos at the 1990 Paris FIAC (see image of receipt).

For 30 years guests at the Cooprider’s heard this story:

“Uncle Albert is the artist. His wife is in black. The mother-in-law in red. The model is Uncle Albert’s extra-curricular fascination. The mother-in-law suspected hanky-panky and hired a private detective on the left, who discovered Uncle Albert and his model were secretly running away together, financed by the diamond hidden in the watermelon. The Bishop, was there to receive Uncle Albert’s confession.”

The Coopriders stayed in touch with Gonzalo as you will see in the correpondence attached - and they treasure "Uncle Albert's Studio" as one of their fond art-life memories.

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Gonzalo Cienfuegos studied architecture at the Escuela de Arquitectura y Arte in Santiago where he was born in 1949. He later left for Mexico and studied graphic design, painting and sculpture at the Escuela La Esmeralda in Mexico City. He returned to Chile in 1975 and is currently a professor of art at the Universidad Catolica in Chile.

Cienfuegos’ art displays conversance with the gamut of Western painting, with obvious quotes from the old and new masters: Jan Van Eyck, Rubens, Velasquez, Goya, Giorgio de Chirico, Paul Delvaux and Balthus, among others. The individuals in Cienfuegos’ work are usually expressionless and introspective, occupying a strange world of their own.

Cienfuegos exhibited at the Săo Paulo Brazil Biennal in 1989, where he received the Art Critics Circle Award, and has continuously exhibited in Chile, Argentina, at the 1990 FIAC in Paris-France, Mexico and the US. His solo exhibits include:, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Santiago, Chile; Art Miami, Galeria Tomas Andreu; Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, USA.

Official_Cienfuegos_Website