15 oktober - 30 oktober 2016

 

Helena Andersson

De organiska formerna hos Helena Andersson hämtar sin inspiration från berg och naturformationer i hennes hemland (öarnas silhuetter, den skandinaviska kusten sedd från luften). Hennes avsikt är dock inte enbart beskrivande, utan rymmer också ”naturen och dess krafter” som ett personligt språk: mellan frigörelsen av en djup känsla som, även om den inte saknar poetiska inslag, ger intryck av att samla all kraft från det undermedvetna och våra sinnen. Därigenom kan vi också placera skulpturerna i ett möte med den tradition som använder keramisk inspiration från dagens avantgarde, den s.k. art pur, där konstnären låter instinkten enbart prägla uttrycket, som en naturens egen kraft.

María Jesús Sarmiento
Konstkritiker, specialist på nutida keramik

 

José-Antonio Sarmiento

The type of material and the creative processes involved do not determine final artistic quality; thus, something formed from the most impoverished, basic materials can radiate intense poetry, whilst another
produced using recognised techniques and the highest quality materials can lack even the slightest whisper of art. It was in the twentieth century when pottery, in many cases, began to take on an artistic quality beyond the mere production of functional objects which had been its purpose for centuries, although its continuing association with the most typical form, the pot, considerably restricted its development.
Nevertheless, certain artists working with this media have explored in depth its expressive possibilities and have brought about a definitive change in the typological canon – the ceramic pot – transforming it so that it becomes a pliable, expressive form. The work of José-Antonio Sarmiento falls within this dynamic. Fragmented landscapes reduced and presented on a scale which is reminiscent of flat expanses, almost without a horizon in one case, and of areas with vegetational and / or artificial irruptions in the other. In conclusion, these pieces, alive with artistic expression and, there is no doubt, the fruits of a consolidated craftsmanship and a creative talent, bring to ceramics a highly intense measure of lyricism, rising up as true landscape – objects.

Javier Hernando Carrasco
Professor of Art History at the University of León, art critic, exhibition curator and member of the Advisory Committee for the MUSAC Collection (Castilla – León, León, Spain)