In the Skin of the Bull, Photographies from film set and film stills, 21x 27cm, 2010
Throw, The Hangman, Walking Upwards, Remains, Clay, metal, wax, stucco, wood, plaster, bronze,
Ink and watercolour on paper, 27 x21.5
Ink and watercolour on paper, 27 x21.5
In the Skin of the Bull (2007-2010)
In the Skin of the Bull is a personal attempt to decipher, stage and share a particular form of self-knowledge embedded in sculpture praxis, this form of knowledge springs from the interaction with the materials in the intimate relationship between the sculptor and the sculpture. In order to do this, the project enhances the ritualistic dimension of the process of bronze casting entering it as an initiate who will transform and transforms him/herself with the interaction of the materials.
This body of work is composed by bronze and clay sculptures, a film, writing/thesis, performances, props of the performances, watercolour drawings and storyboards. The film documents the process of making a sculpture from its conception on clay to the pouring of the liquid bronze. This action intercuts with performances filmed in a blacked out studio which explore the internal and external stimuli of the materials triggered by the sense of touch. The skin is the perceptive organ which connects the sensations of the materials with the inner space of memories, dreams and imagination.
In order to stretch the ritualistic dimension, the structure of the film traces a parallel with the stages and archaic symbolism embedded in bullfighting. This is introduced with aesthetic elements which refer to Clouzot’s The Mystery of Picasso (1956) acknowledging the usage of film as means to capture the creative process. Touch, sensuality, identity, sublimation, the beast, the self and the dimension of death are explored throughout the film, a film which tries to articulate something which can at times barely be experienced and even less sustained, peak purely perceptive and somehow intuitive moments of self-expression.
This body of work is composed by bronze and clay sculptures, a film, writing/thesis, performances, props of the performances, watercolour drawings and storyboards. The film documents the process of making a sculpture from its conception on clay to the pouring of the liquid bronze. This action intercuts with performances filmed in a blacked out studio which explore the internal and external stimuli of the materials triggered by the sense of touch. The skin is the perceptive organ which connects the sensations of the materials with the inner space of memories, dreams and imagination.
In order to stretch the ritualistic dimension, the structure of the film traces a parallel with the stages and archaic symbolism embedded in bullfighting. This is introduced with aesthetic elements which refer to Clouzot’s The Mystery of Picasso (1956) acknowledging the usage of film as means to capture the creative process. Touch, sensuality, identity, sublimation, the beast, the self and the dimension of death are explored throughout the film, a film which tries to articulate something which can at times barely be experienced and even less sustained, peak purely perceptive and somehow intuitive moments of self-expression.
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