Born in Argentina, raised in Brazil, Guillermo Creuss currently resides in Bushwick. Guillermo originally came to New York to pursue his career in painting, although these days you are more likely to come across his curated art shows than his own work. And most importantly, you are very likely to come across his online gallery Fortress to Solitude.
Guillermo has been immersed in curating since 2009, when he curated his first art show on the second floor of 56 Bogart building. “I think that being an artist is a good asset for a curator,” says Guillermo, who as a foreigner has more or less successfully battled the English language and titled the first show Fortress to Solitude, instead of Fortress of Solitude. The name with a cute mistake stuck, and created a brand for months to follow. “As a curator I opened my eyes to the large amount of work which is in the neighborhood and also worldwide. That wasn’t the case when I was focused on my own work in my studio,” said Guillermo.
For a couple of months in 2010-2011, Guillermo was able to use an unoccupied building on Boerum Street. While the owner was trying to obtain the missing paperwork, Guillermo was curating eclectic shows there and inviting artists and gallerists from the area. Simultaneously with the realization that he would prefer to curate art shows in multiple spaces came the owner’s decision to take the building back. Fortress to Solitude was put on hiatus – but not for too long. “I have been a web designer for many years, and so the online thing made a lot of sense to me,” said Guillermo. The online platform of Fortress to Solitude was launched in June 2012. “The works on the website took much longer I than expected,” says Guillermo. In November 2012 they had a WordPress site, but another web developer came along later on and developed the site from scratch to create its current version.
Looking at the enormous international reach of Fortress to Solitude as an online platform (the gallery contains art from Bushwick, Brazil, Berlin, Copenhagen and more), one has to ask: Will the traditional galleries be replaced with online spaces? Or will they coexist as two modes fulfilling similar purposes?
Fortress to Solitude currently offers archival prints, which is a model that was successfully adopted by Jen Bekman and her 20×200 project. “The internet has made it possible for people to have visual access to art, and being able to afford low cost but high quality archival prints is amazing,” said Guillermo.
“However, Fortress to Solitude is a little bit more exclusive than other websites. We do limited editions of about 25 pieces. All of them are signed and numbered, printed locally, in the best quality.”
This process incorporated a lot of photographers and digitally created works, but Fortress to Solitude plans to also offer works on paper and unique pieces in the future, still at affordable prices.
So what do you think? Can you imagine your art being featured in an online gallery? If your answer is yes, than soon you will have a chance as Fortress to Solitude plans an open call for new artists, likely in partnership with a Bushwick art institution.
Some of the pieces currently on display at Fortress to Solitude include:
