ANDREA RODRIGUEZ VIAL

Artwork installed for the exhibition “Tête à tête”, curated by Jean-Charles Hameau and Michel Paysant.

October-December 2021

Museé National Adrian Dubouché, Limoges, France.

This work is the result of research into the local context and history of the Centre International des Arts Verriers (CIAV) in Meisenthal. It refers to the preservation of an almost lost tradition and technical heritage, using the old molds preserved in its Moulothèque.

The relationship and arrangement of the pieces generate a visual and symbolic link between the past and the present. At the same time, they evoke the historical roots of architectural forms and their monumentality. They highlight the relationship between the positive and the negative, as well as the process of rupture, modulation, and remodeling of each piece.

The installation also emphasizes the inversion of roles by using and transmuting the production and reproduction systems of the glass and ceramic tradition: the molds. They become tools of reproduction and objects to be reproduced. What happens when the mold and the object normally reproduced are linked, and all their constituent elements are put under the same value?

Through its abstract volumes, the porcelain becomes a container, a kind of "house" that preserves and, at the same time, reveals the glass piece. The relationship of the forms exalts the transparency and opacity of the elements and at the same time proposes a game of recognition based on memory, alluding to the concepts of trace and fragmentation.

Ce travail est le résultat d'une recherche sur le contexte local et l'histoire du Centre International des Arts Verriers (CIAV) de Meisenthal. Il fait référence à la préservation d'une tradition et d'un patrimoine technique presque perdus, en utilisant les anciens moules conservés dans sa Moulothèque et en s'inspirant de l'architecture pour la conception des pièces à créer.

La relation et la disposition des pièces génèrent un lien visuel et symbolique entre le passé et le présent. En même temps, elles évoquent l'ancrage historique des formes architecturales et leur monumentalité. Elles mettent en évidence la relation entre le positif et le négatif, ainsi que le processus de rupture, de modulation et de remodelage de chaque pièce.

L’installation met aussi l'accent sur l'inversion des rôles en utilisant et transmutant les systèmes de production et de reproduction propres de la tradition du verre et de la céramique: les moules. Ils deviennent outils de reproduction et objets à reproduire. Que se passe-t-il lorsque le moule et l'objet normalement reproduit sont liés, et que tous leurs éléments constitutifs sont mis sous la même valeur?

Par ses volumes abstraits, la porcelaine devient un récipient, une sorte de "maison" qui préserve et, en même temps, révèle la pièce en verre. La relation des formes exalte la transparence et l'opacité des éléments et propose en même temps un jeu de reconnaissance basé sur la mémoire faisant allusion aux concepts de trace et de fragmentation.

Stoneware, Terracota, Earthenware, different measures, 2021

Stained porcelain Work exhibited at the “Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Ave. Gallery”, Jingdezhen, China.

20,5 x 20,5 x 12,5 / 16 x 16 x 14,5 / 20,5 x 20,5 x 9,5 / 16 x 16 x 9,5 cm. 2019

Stained porcelain Work exhibited at the “Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Ave. Gallery”, Jingdezhen, China. 120 x 130 cm 2019

Stained porcelain Work exhibited at the “Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Ave. Gallery”, Jingdezhen, China. 480 x 370 cm 2019

MODULAR III and IV, attempts to highlight the contrast between hand-made practices versus industrial procedures, by proposing an artwork where the different ceramic modules emphasize the value of the unique piece that appears to be camouflaged in an alleged series reproduction.

This project was originated while questioning my past working method, where reproduction with molds became the core tool. Raising awareness of my own process was key to deepen into current reproduction systems, and achieving an evolved method reflected in my last series called MODULAR.

Evolved mold construction systems: The creation method began with a two-week designing phase for an altered mother mold that contained the chosen pattern. This mold included 27 interchangeable plaster pieces that could create simultaneously -at least- three molds. Each piece can be interchanged to create a new mold, leading to more than a thousand combinations.

Nine of these plaster pieces have their patterned reliefs in an inward position while the other nine are displayed in an outward position. The remaining 9 pieces have flat surfaces. As a result, this method has allowed me to continuously alter its performance.

Contextual urbanism: MODULAR III and IV are metaphorically intertwined with the concept of urbanism (a system in which houses and buildings –although singular and independent constructions- when located within proximity, generates neighborhoods, towns, and cities). In my proposal, each individual module is positioned in close proximity conforming a new corporeal frame that, at the same time, shares similarities within their material, shapes, and creation process. All these pieces are tempted, as in the city, to show their unique essence. But, forced to dialogue with the group, they are pushed to sacrifice their singularity.

The essence behind Modular III and IV: In these artworks, choosing a geometrical pattern emphasizes our own industrial cultural heritage that can be well perceived in the construction of the cities. The result is a group of ceramic objects displayed in a way that can make reference to the city but observed from above, outstanding the history of our civilization and contrasting them with the authors who have left their individual mark on them.

In my proposal, each individual module is positioned in close proximity conforming a new corporeal frame that, at the same time, shares similarities within their material, shapes, and creation process.

The works guide our eyes and our bodies through its own map, helping us to re-imagine places of intimacy in the context of contemporary information-based art.

Behind MODULAR IV: For this artwork, I decided to work with a design inspired by a specific geometrical pattern taken from Latin American native minorities symbology called Chakana.

The installation (3.5 mts x 3,5 mts) represents the Santiago city map. I seek to allude to the confrontation between a hiper-globalized world, with a huge loss of identity especially because the economic conglomerates which, as they start to grow and expand, absorbs, and destroy minority identities. The series reproduction system that I use represents the loss of identity in the way things are now manufactured. The concept of Urbanism and its uncontrolled expansion is a good way to make this visible. When I put a sign taken from ethnical minorities on the center of almost every piece, I recover it from the tomb and revalidate it. The relationship between the “one and only” (reflected in the exclusivity of each piece) versus the automatic series reproduction will determine the actual conflict of how our native identities try to survive inside this very alienated system

 Stoneware, different measures, 2018

MODULAR III and IV, attempts to highlight the contrast between hand-made practices versus industrial procedures, by proposing an artwork where the different ceramic modules emphasize the value of the unique piece that appears to be camouflaged in an alleged series reproduction.

This project was originated while questioning my past working method, where reproduction with molds became the core tool. Raising awareness of my own process was key to deepen into current reproduction systems, and achieving an evolved method reflected in my last series called MODULAR.

Evolved mold construction systems: The creation method began with a two-week designing phase for an altered mother mold that contained the chosen pattern. This mold included 27 interchangeable plaster pieces that could create simultaneously -at least- three molds. Each piece can be interchanged to create a new mold, leading to more than a thousand combinations.

Nine of these plaster pieces have their patterned reliefs in an inward position while the other nine are displayed in an outward position. The remaining 9 pieces have flat surfaces. As a result, this method has allowed me to continuously alter its performance.

Contextual urbanism: MODULAR III and IV are metaphorically intertwined with the concept of urbanism (a system in which houses and buildings –although singular and independent constructions- when located within proximity, generates neighborhoods, towns, and cities). In my proposal, each individual module is positioned in close proximity conforming a new corporeal frame that, at the same time, shares similarities within their material, shapes, and creation process.

The essence behind Modular III and IV: In these artworks, choosing a geometrical pattern emphasizes our own industrial cultural heritage that can be well perceived in the construction of the cities. The result is a group of ceramic objects displayed in a way that can make reference to the city but observed from above, outstanding the history of our civilization and contrasting them with the authors who have left their individual mark on them.

In my proposal, each individual module is positioned in close proximity conforming a new corporeal frame that, at the same time, shares similarities within their material, shapes, and creation process. All these pieces are tempted, as in the city, to show their unique essence, but forced to dialogue with the group, they are pushed to sacrifice their singularity.

The works guide our eyes and our bodies through its own map, helping us to re-imagine places of intimacy in the context of contemporary information-based art.

Stoneware Different measures EKWC, Oisterwijk, The Netherlands. 2017

Reversing a mechanic process to unveil and redefine the artistic value of molds defines MODULAR II. Transferring a traditional artistic value from the resulting ceramic piece to its artistic mechanics seeks to revalue an artisan’s tools and processes. Each piece is both the end result and the significance of the process.

Molds are displayed as a puzzle of mental reconstruction for the viewer. Deploying a game of memory and visual recognition based on the origins and remains of serial reproduction, but at the same time, a rebirth of the matrix of all ceramic processes: a mold.

Stained porcelain 120 x 80 cm. Work exhibited at Zentrum Für Keramik, Berlín 2017

Ceramic Different measures 2016

MODULAR attempts to highlight the contrast between hand-made practices versus industrial procedures, by proposing an artwork where the different ceramic modules emphasize the value of the unique piece that appears to be camouflaged in an alleged series reproduction.

This project was originated while questioning my past working method, where reproduction with molds became the core tool. Raising awareness of my own process was key to deepen into current reproduction systems, and achieving an evolved method reflected in “Modular”.

La serie MODULAR forma parte de un proceso de deconstrucción, tanto de mi arte como de mi trabajo con cerámica. Este proyecto tiene como punto de partida un intenso proceso investigativo sobre los sistemas de producción y reproducción propios de la escultura en cerámica. A partir de ello, he llegado a cuestionar e invertir los roles de sus partes poniendo, en primera instancia, atención en los moldes como piezas que pueden dejar de ser herramientas, para ser obras de arte en sí, hechas del mismo material con que solían ser llenados para reproducir otras piezas. ¿Qué pasa cuando el material de trabajo unifica todo el proceso para poner bajo el mismo valor todas las partes que lo constituyen? ¿Qué pasa cuando un molde se convierte en obra y cuando la cerámica es utilizada para reproducir moldes?

Estas preguntas me llevaron a analizar los elementos básicos del proceso de producción de mi obra para convertirlo en su totalidad en un potencial material expositivo. Me remonto con ello a la base de un oficio desarrollado por años, para hacer desaparecer y aparecer mis herramientas de trabajo en un puro estado de creación y exposición. Esta nueva etapa tiene como fin poner en valor la técnica como elemento artístico, proponiendo el molde no sólo  como sistema reproductivo sino que a su vez como producto expositivo, lo que me ha llevado a descubrir un nuevo terreno donde la figuración se encuentra inscrita en la abstracción. Incluso la posibilidad de fusionar mi obra con nuevas tecnologías me ha permitido explorar y descubrir nuevas posibilidades visuales y con ello, fusionar y proponer nuevas problemáticas. Dentro de ellas me interesa de sobremanera la re contextualización del objeto en negativo, el trabajo de puzzle y de reconstrucción mental: el juego del reconocimiento a partir de la memoria, abordada en base a la huella y fragmentación y a su vez, indagar en el concepto de reproducción en serie de lo que, a la vez, fue alguna vez la matriz para conseguir todo esto.

Colored raw clay Installation at Lumbier Gorge, Spain. 2018

360 FEATHERS, is a site-specific installation for the gorge of Lumbier, Spain, composed of several leaves made of colored raw clay which are displayed all over the soil and climbing trees and bushes. Through the interaction between organic elements of landscape and clay, I seek to write over the surface of the earth, following its spontaneous grammar and style.

This work pays tribute to the Buitre Leonado, a bird that is currently protected in this natural sanctuary.

Colored raw clay Lumbier Gorge, Spain 2018

Most recent developments of my art investigation can be observed in works that try to come closer to topography, soil, and the direct image and experience of nature. TOPOGRAPHY is a site-specific work of metaphoric intervention of the landscape: through different geometrical forms of sharp angles, I try to achieve a momentary dialog between coloured ceramic elements and the rough mineral soil in the wild and harsh landscape of this Navarran canyon.

Ceramic and bronze pigment Work exhibited at Zentrum Für Keramik, Berlín 2017

Reversing a mechanic process to unveil and redefine the artistic value of molds defines DECONSTRUCTION. Transferring a traditional artistic value from the resulting ceramic piece to its artistic mechanics seeks to revalue an artisan’s tools and processes. Each piece is both the end result and the significance of the process.

Molds are displayed as a puzzle of mental reconstruction for the viewer. Deploying a game of memory and visual recognition based on the origins and remains of serial reproduction, but at the same time, a rebirth of the matrix of all ceramic processes: a mold.

Cement 2016

Ceramic and wood 80 x 55 x 120 cm Expo Bloc, Santiago de Chile 2015

Ceramic and gold luster 24 x 27 x 27 cm 2016

Clay Installation in landscape, Berlín 2017

Clay  65 x 30 x 39 cm  2015.

Clay Variable measures 2015

Clay 46 x 14 x 14 cm 2016

Porcelain and gold luster. Variable measures, 2016-2018

Ceramic and stainless steel 180 x 180 x 230 cm Madhaus Gallery, Santiago de Chilli. 2015

Plaster 81 x 17 x 33 cm 2012

This work consists of a scene composed by a number of different animals, reproduced in plaster and illuminated by a directed and bluish light. In this scene it can be seen petrified, movable and in some cases threatening bodies. Different species that are related in chaos (life), but by the light, color and composition of the scene, they emulate the feel of a mausoleum.

In this work, color, light and movement are the main tensors. From these, becomes evident the polarity between whatever pretend to be alive and that is dead; what it was and was extinguished.

The work is inspired by Baroque art, whose principles maintain, among other things, a tension between the life and death, the spiritual and the mundane, the fiction and reality.  The chiaroscuro, the ornate and the theatrical become keys strategies to express a world in motion and agitation.  In Mausoleum similar strategies are used, however, the concept of death appears mainly represented by the white color. The white confirms what going extinct, what dies, and in turn, it is opposed to the movement of these animals, with their volumes intensified by the directed light, rather than seem dead, they are active.

Mausoleum does a homage to the existence and, in turn, is presented as his own testimony, with reference to what it advance and announces the death of something that is still alive.

Esta obra consiste en una escena conformada por una serie de distintos animales, reproducidos en yeso e iluminados por una luz dirigida y azulosa. En esta, se aprecian cuerpos petrificados, móviles y en algunos casos, amenazantes. Distintas especies que se relacionan en el caos (vida), pero que por la luz, color y composición de la escena, emulan la sensación de un mausoleo.

En esta obra, el color, la luz y el movimiento son los principales tensores. A partir de estos, se pone de manifiesto la polaridad entre lo que pretende estar vivo y está muerto; aquello que fue y se extinguió.

La obra está inspirada en el arte barroco, cuya bases mantienen, entre algunas cosas, una tensión entre la vida y la muerte, lo espiritual y lo mundano, la ficción y realidad. El claroscuro, lo recargado y lo teatral pasan a ser estrategias claves para expresar un mundo en movimiento y agitación. En Mausoleo se utilizan estrategias similares, sin embargo, el concepto de muerte aparece principalmente representado por el color blanco. Lo blanco homologa lo que se extingue, lo que muere. Y, a su vez, se contrapone al movimiento de estos animales que, con sus volúmenes intensificados por la luz dirigida, más que parecer muertos, están activos.

Mausoleo hace un homenaje a la existencia y, a la vez, se presenta como su propio testimonio, aludiendo a aquello que adelanta y anuncia la muerte de algo que aún sigue vivo.

Ceramic 57 x 20 x 20 cm 2015

Ceramic and gold luster. 32 x 26 x 28 cm 2015

Ceramic 25 x 24 x 20 cm 2015

Ceramic and white gold luster 25 x 24 x 25 cm 2015

Ceramic and stainless steel 89 x 9 x 19 cm Madhaus Gallery, Santiago de Chilli. 2015

Blue: Stoneware White: Porcelain 100 x 28 x 28 cm 2017

Stoneware 72 x 30 x 68 cm 2017

Ceramic and gold luster 34 x 28 x 48 cm each Madhaus Gallery, Santiago de Chilli. 2015

Golden: Ceramic and gold luster. Black: ceramic and white gold luster 34 x 28 x 48 cm 2015

Ceramic 25 x 25 x 25 cm Madhaus Gallery, Santiago de Chilli. 2015

Ceramic and gold luster over acrylic 2015

Ceramic and gold luster 28 x 15 x 29 cm 2014

Ceramic 36 x 12 x 15 cm 2014

Plastic dolls and plaster different measures MAC, Santiago de Chile 2009

Artwork is showcased  in  a Collective  exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Santiago, Chile, on the occasion of the Balmaceda Youth Art Contest, March 2009.

The work consists of a series of miniature figures , conformed from fragments of small dolls inserted into small figures or gypsum blocks, worked in a craftsmanship way and with a specific design process and they were arranged on ledges along room of the museum, thereby alluding to its objectual character. From a distance, a set of figures which, at first sight, appears homogeneous will be displayed. The tension between the model and the serial will be screened as long as one approaches, since will appear details that make look at each one of the figures in particular, realizing that the “new” objects created are all different.

With the use of the doll I generate a direct link between the object of mass consumption: the toy and the personification of the human being in this same. In other words, the relationship between the human figure and depersonalization is placed in tension, from their representation through the doll as an object of consumption.

In an era when multiple objects are established like a social understanding device , the doll acquires meaning in terms of representation or imitation of the human body, through infant parameters. Problems such as identity, in direct relation to objects, can be solved in this way, through the choice of the doll (like a representation of the human figure and at the same time like object of mass consumption), considering its symbolic connotations and in accordance to the way they are arranged in the work.

Besides, also I am interested in to establish other relations in respect of the doll and the metaphorical load inherent in this approach, especially as a toy. Coming closer to the work, disturbing tensions are generated: every doll, or a fragment thereof, when they are inserted or trapped within these blocks, sets aside his own naive connotation characteristic of the play to enter in actions almost “tortuous” that are applied in them ( in this situation, the doll is destined to perpetually assume her new status that is away from its original function: the game, taking the proper condition that corresponds to the object on a shelf, the eternal permanence in her own prison) . In this way, being devices both objects, the doll acquires a condition of submission in front of her container. In the other hand, the kind of manipulation made on the dolls trying to generate a double and opposite intentionality, in spite of the aggressive nature that such action entails. When the work is seen from afar, is presented as a collection of small objects, by position, scale, quantity and number and subtlety of colorful, they tend to be attractive and innocent . Finally, with the approach of the viewer, the another side is discovered.

From the naive that represent the play, to the aggression, stays in the air the paradoxical way in which such blocks are worked (figures with silhouettes and decorous details whose treatment, in contrast to his aggressive act immobilizing on the dolls, tend to the feminine and delicate) and in the relation that the dolls have with these, in some cases, results even funny , or as a kind of black humor.

In this way, the representation of the human body in my work implies a process of fragmentation or distortion of the body passing both the physical, but also for the symbolic in the sense of declaring violence wastes in situations of dissatisfaction, for example , that can manifest on the established models by the society: in general, the physical picture of the doll is a symbol of beauty standards that do not necessarily correspond to the reality and the transgression is in the symbolic breaking of these parameters.

Muñeca de plástico y arcilla Dimensiones variables 2009

En Alteraciones corporales  I, III y III propongo 3 propuestas que indagan el concepto de Metamorfosis, generando una reflexión acerca de las constantes transformaciones que sufrimos los seres humanos durante el proceso de construcción identitaria, pero puntualmente, a partir de un análisis que gira en torno a la construcción de la imagen femenina. De este modo mi problema se centra en cómo la realidad objetiva de la mujer puede ser disfrazada y representada en la visualidad, aludiendo para ello a ciertos conceptos como fantasía, ficción, monstruoso, humor negro, e incluso absurdo. La muñeca, como representación de la figura humana femenina, es utilizada para establecer de manera metafórica este asunto, en donde lo grotesco de las soluciones formales (dado por las transformaciones que sufre) genera una directa conexión con lo dramático de la existencia.

En estas obras se hace visible la relación (el puente) entre la mujer real y la ilusión de mujer (como debe ser según la norma). Ambas facetas, la real y la ficticia  se configuran en una mezcla compleja que violenta los cuerpos de las muñecas para transformarse en sujetos con un alto  grado de hibridismo, con formas más bien amorfas, vinculadas a hacer visible que ese cruce entre realidad y ficción es en sí amorfo. Sin embargo lo que se muestra aquí no es nunca el resultado sino que el proceso en sí mismo.

Plastic doll and porcelain Variable dimensions MAVI, Santiago de Chile 2009

Work exhibited at the Museum of visual arts (MAVI) by reason of the competition "MAVI minera escondida”