The Begin is a series of contemporary diptychs on wood and canvas, exploring neo pop imagery and early experiments in statement art. These works reflect the foundational stage of Cristina Guerrero’s painting practice

The Begin is a series that explores the origins of the imagery we consume from childhood and how it shapes the construction of desire, identity, and the female body. Through the use of well-known cartoon characters and childhood references, the work establishes a direct dialogue between what appears innocent and what is deeply cultural.

In each image, the female body is dressed and adapted to the symbolic universe of the chosen character. Clothing functions as a code: translating traits, colors, and attitudes from the cartoon into the language of the adult body. This shift creates an intentional friction between the childlike and the sexualized, the tender and the normative, revealing how certain models are internalized from an early age.

The series also incorporates popular sweets and mass-consumed products — such as the Pink Panther snack cake — which act as triggers of collective memory. These elements, associated with immediate pleasure and consumption, reinforce the idea of an emotional education built through sweet, repetitive, and easily digestible images.

Through visual analogies, The Begin raises questions about how these references shape expectations around the female body: how it is looked at, how it is desired, and how it is represented. What initially appears as a game of dress-up becomes a critical reflection on the normalization of certain archetypes and on the moment when the childlike ceases to be innocent.

The Begin does not seek to provoke nostalgia, but rather to revisit the point of departure — the place where the symbolic, the bodily, and the cultural begin to intertwine, often without our full awareness.

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Series in development. The series includes works in private collections and others available for purchase upon request.