I was honored to be part of Rock the Garden, at Montalvo Arts Center, last Friday July 22. This 5 Hour Sculpture Show was an interactive evening where the public could enjoy art installations in a participatory way. The Nomadic Labyrinth was one of the 10 projects selected and it was great pleasure to see so many people engaging with the labyrinth in many ways.
Learn more about The Nomadic Labyrinth here
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Last Thursday was the opening of ¨Carpet Diem¨, my first solo exhibition in Galicia, Spain, since I moved to San Francisco in 2003. The show is part of the third edition of the project called Estado Critico: 10 Curators, 10 Artists and is curated by artist and professor Almudena Fernandez Fariña.
The installation presented at Sala Alterarte, University of Vigo, plays with geometric patterns created with three types of carpets, two donated by the MARCO (Museum of Contemporary Art) and the other one from Casa Sirvent, both in Vigo. Carpet Diem Sala Alterarte, University of Vigo, Ourense, Spain May 12 - August 15,2016 Opening Reception: Thursday May 12, 12 pm Last Thursday, my collaborator artist Eliza Barrios and I hit the streets of San Francisco again with our Daily Slots. This time the sentence "Does the SFPD keep you safe?", alluding to the San Francisco Police brutality, was featured in the newspaper stands around City Hall and Montgomery Bart Station.
The city of San Francisco is removing dozens of newspaper racks "to improve cityscape". Daily Slots is a collaborative street project. Using news stands located along Market and around City Hall as “vehicles to deliver information”, we send messages through the windows of these structures. Altering the visual landscape of the pedestrian/urban environment, the messages are a mixture of iconography and slogans that call attention to the economy, consumerism and un-sustainability of the capitalistic culture. I just came back from a trip to India, where I was in residency at Tvak Studios in the heart of the city of Ahmedabad, Gujarat. At the end of last year I was invited by Tvak Studios to work on a public art proposal that would include the public or the community. I was also invited to participate in the Ashapally Arts Festival. During almost three weeks I worked in the Vastrapur District of Ahmedabad and had the opportunity to engage and learn from different communities and art institutions, like Kanoria Center for the Arts, the National Institute of Design, Gramshree and the Sabarmati Ashram. The final work of this residency was the creation of a walkable tile labyrinth. The public that was attending the festival was invited to walk the labyrinth. As part of the residency I taught a workshop about the creation of a labyrinth as a public art project. During a visit to the National Institute of Design I was invited to do a talk and a presentation of my work for the Exhibition Design graduate students. I very much enjoyed getting to know the work of this prestigious institution.
Starting tomorrow I will be doing an Artist Residency at Tvak Studios in Ahmedabad, India. For the month of February I will work on building a labyrinth with discarded materials sourced locally. Ahmedabad, former capital of the State of Gujarat, is one of the largest cities in India and it is well known for the textile industry. During my stay in this city I will try to incorporate some of the textiles in the design of the labyrinth. As a resident of Tvak Studios I will also participate in the Ashapalli Arts Festival, a confluence of art, curators and craft that will highlight the vibrancy and traditions of the city. Gandhi's first Ashram in India is also in Ahmedabad and it's one of the main attractions. I am excited to visit this Ashram/Museum and learn more about the principles of non-violence. Learn more about Gandhi Ashram Ashapally Arts festival Images of the prototype of the labyrinth
I have been recently exploring the concept of sacred geometry and incorporating into my mural making. I see this work like mandala making, it contains the same structure of using natural patterns. The order of the universe is explained in this language of using basic forms, through which one tunes into a deeper internal order.
I feel that there is a subconscious benefit in these geometric forms and I am interested in playing with them in my murals. I bring a spiritual component into the art itself, which expands my vision of painting. Painting is not something isolated from the space but rather an extension of it. Painting is not limited by the space or the architecture. It redefines the space, blurring the borders, this way the mural becomes "inhabitable". I welcome my clients into the possibility of co-creating in this process. Collaboration can take the form of a ritual creation in one's living space as a powerful part of the process, or other meditative or energetic work throughout the mural’s creation. Interested in co-creating a mural with me? contact me at pazdelacalzada@yahoo.com Open Studios in our building is this weekend. I will have available new drawings on silk and paper. I have also been working on other mural projects inspired in arabic geometric patterns. Come by and visit me in Studio # 211.
1890 Bryant Studios 1890 Bryant St Studio # 211 San Francisco, CA 94110 Opening Party Friday November 6, 6 - 9pm Saturday & Sunday 7 and 8, 11am - 6pm This fall is bringing me closer to my fascination with patterns, both geometrical and from the natural world. In previous work, like Vertical Garden, or even older work like Des-Nudos, I had explored this theme and the possible relationship that these patterns could have with the architecture and the urban landscape.
After a few years working with labyrinths with the idea of bringing together community, public space and ritual, I continue my studio work researching about the mystic proportions and symbolism of geometric patterns. This new body of work, is inspired in Sacred Geometry. Using carpet as the main material to create the patterns I started this new series with the number 8, the number that some spiritual orders attribute to infinite. During my residency at ArtAmari, in the Amari Valley in Central Crete, I had the opportunity to research and build two labyrinths with the help of the local community. Crete is the land of the Classical seven circuit labyrinth. This mythical labyrinth was built by Daedalus for the legendary Minotaur during the war between Athens and Crete. Theseus, the Athenian hero, was challenged to enter the labyrinth, kill the minotaur and liberate the Athenians from Crete.
Mostly everybody in Crete knows about this myth but not very many can describe or draw how this labyrinth looks like. It was very exciting to teach, specially kids, how to draw a Cretan seven circuit labyrinth and build one in the local High School's courtyard. |
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in Crete and the creation of a labyrinth |