This project made on the occasion of the 10th Contemporary Jewelry International Symposium Ars Ornata Europeana 2005, for the exhibition Closer, curated by Cristina Filipe, Marília Maria Mira and Paula Paour in collaboration with the Museu de Arte Antiga de Lisboa, is a direct response to the works on display at the museum.
The artists were asked to choose one or more works and through their interpretation make their own. I chose 2 paintings and a tapestry.
In the painting St. Augustine from Piero della Francesca, the hands were the focus of my attention. In white gloves St. Augustine appears like a surgeon sent by God. Symbol of faith and intellectual power himself he stated: " Man is a rational soul that uses a mortal and terrestrial body."
In the painting The Virgin Annunciation from Cornelius van Cleef, the purity of the soul seems to emanate from the Virgin's fair skin. Highlighted by the dark cloak of modesty it is also a fine lock of hair that unfolds around her neck.
Hercule's Fight with the Centaurs, work from the XVI century, shows the Hero, whom according Homer's legend, had defeated death.
In the scene depicted in the tapestry, Hercules fights against the destructive forces of nature, reclaiming power, order and balance back to the Earth. The shield he wears becomes the symbol of his bravery.
Piero della Francesca
Italy, XV century
(from the collection of the MNAA)
Cornelius van Cleef
Flanders, XVI century
(from the collection of the MNAA)
Cornelius van Cleef
Brussels, XVI century
(from the collection of the MNAA)
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Implant
'Bones are for the body as trees are for the humankind.'
This series is a reflection of my passion for nature, for discovering it and preserving it.
Some years ago I started collecting small pieces laid lifeless on the ground, yet full of power and meaning for me. Their potential enchanted me and collecting them became a ritual as if by doing so they could last longer.
Implant is a metaphor for life and the fragile systems in which man and nature stand together. In this series dry branches gained a new context. They have been restored and adapted to fit human bodies.
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Still-life
While walking along the streets I looked at the landscape that suddenly seemed to grow. Through my eyes the trees were multiplying, the nature expanding wider.
Suddenly, as I stood in a field of light and shadow, that reflected landscape, immaterial but so real, captured my gaze. Somehow, I kept alive that view.
Still-life was exhibited at Gallery Velvet da Vinci, San Francisco, 2006
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Praline
'Praline plays with the consumer society, with the idea of valuation by the market and the media, and with the medium as material for misleading or legitimating. In this pieces, made out of scrunched-up chocolate wrappings, threaded together by precious metals, where is the value? Which is the prevailing fact? What questions are raised? Which is the world that reveals and which is the world that enquires?'*
* text by Guta Moura Guedes, co-curator of the exhibition My World, New Crafts, Design Biennial EXD05
Praline was integrated in the exhibition My World New Crafts from the Design Biennial EXD05
