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Paths of Infinity
Australia
fascinated me for its immense space, for the feeling of freedom
and I was captivated by the light and by the magical colours
that the rocks
took on at sunrise or at sunset. Above all going round the
mythical Ayres Rock,
Uluru = Mother Earth for the Aborigines. I could feel its
sacredness, it transmitted
mystery and religiosity to me, it struck me in all its grandeur:
as if faced with a
magnificent cathedral. All of this, surrounded by the desert
that at that moment
was flowering and fragrant. In order to reach the great rock
we had chosen to
take a solitary forty minute walk. I had the impression of
being in the Garden
of Eden for the colours of the plants and the flowers which
I had never seen
before, with the sky of an intense blue, the red monolith
in the background,
in the absolute silence: it was an exhilarating experience.
From a dune which dominated the landscape, I felt for the
first time as if I was
under an enormous dome of a light blue colour all around gradually
becoming
deeper towards its centre. I felt as if I could see the whole
roundness of the
earth and I spun round and round like an incredulous little
girl. I perceived the
great forces of nature, and felt like a minute creature, in
the rain forests under
the seventy-metre trees with gigantic lianas and ferns towering
over me and also
on the immense, breathtaking beaches, embroidered with a myriad
of sand-balls
made by the excavations of small crabs, these beaches surrounded
by a thick
forest of secular trees and by the ocean with its incredible
colours. In these maps,
"Paths of Infinity" I wanted to portray and transmit
the immensity of these spaces
which moved me so much.
Marialuisa
Sponga
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"Paths
of Infinity" 2000/2002
Triptych:
176 x 404 cm,
n.1 - left: 176 x 114 cm,
n.2 - centre: 176 x 174 cm,
n.3 - right: 176 x 116 cm.
Assemblage machine quilted and embroidered, cotton, polyester,
gauzes, copper cloth, plastic, natural dyed raffia and flocks
of wool, plastic threads, metallic net, transparent thread,
treated threads.
"Paths
of Infinity" 2000/2002
Triptych:
196 x 410 cm,
n.4 - left: 196 x 117 cm,
n.5 - centre: 196 x 196 cm,
n.6 - right: 196 x 117 cm.
Assemblage machine quilted, cotton, polyester, gauzes, copper
cloth, pirkka ribbon, corrugated cardboard, palm bark, copper
wire, transparent thread, cellophane, plastic, treated threads.
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"Paths
of Infinity" 2000/2002
Triptych:
179 x 405 cm,
n.7 - left: 179 x 115 cm,
n.8 - centre: 179 x 174 cm,
n.9 - right: 176 x 116 cm.
Assemblage machine quilted, cotton,
polyester, gauzes, copper cloth, transparent thread, plastic,
treated cloth and threads.
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Presentation
by Martha Nieuwenhuijs
This
is how I replied to my friend Marialuisa last autumn who had
asked me
to present in this exhibition the Maps at which she had been
working since her
return from Australia: "...You've asked me to comment on
your latest works, I'll
try. Even though I am not a critic but a textile artist, the
spark will light up only
when put before the object in matter. For it is above all this
which fascinates me
most about your work, the love for materials, the deep knowledge
of the world
of textiles which you handle, overlap, fray, unweave, quilt
and embroider.
The processing you put your fabrics through never fail to surprise,
every time
both new effects and hues of colours and unexpected varieties
of textures emerge.
I like this passion for manual skill in an age in which art
seems to limit itself to an
idea, overshadowing the practical aspect of its accomplishment.
Even with regard
to "fibre art" it seems that the work always has to
be carried out forever more
quickly, with as little technique, manual skill and time as
possible. All that is left
is an idea, a concept, a cerebral work.
Our works are very different but on this matter of interest
they correspond.
There is the desire to deepen and re-invent an ancient language,
each time
experimenting new solutions, without the fear of being classified."Months
have
passed and slowly the three triptychs of the project of uncommon
size, have taken
form. Already by the names of the materials used I imagined
the reflections and
shades of these works in which a tangle of threads and fragments
of textiles
thicken and thin from one section of the triptych to the other,
depicting continuing
forests and paths into an infinite landscape. Here and there
emerge massive rocks
reproduced with the warm tones of copper. A flat view transmits
sensations of
freedom and peacefulness in a vastness of space in which human
anxieties seem
totally remote.
Warm, radiant colours interchange with brilliant, fresh spots
of green in a glimpse of
the world which is full of joy and wonder. These tapestries
tell us of broad horizons
in which nature is the sole protagonist. The artist discovers
this, experiences its
mystery, senses its religious stillness and beneath the sky-blue
vault feels she is
becoming ever smaller to the extent of being lost in the universe.
"I could see the
roundness of the earth and kept spinning round like a little
girl..." she says,
describing her sense of happiness and of dizziness, which the
Westerner does feel
before the grandeur of an Australian landscape. Although the
trip set out to be a
cultural one after having encountered aboriginal art, the artist
however discovers a
new dimension, the possibility of being in tune with nature,
of strongly feeling part
of it. Her impressions are expressed in these "maps"
with her own personal style
which has over the years taken shape into a now long series
of works.
I bring to mind the melancholy of "Autumn in Venice ",
the expressive figure of
"Light and anxiety", the delicate transparencies of
"White on white". In her works I
rediscover what struck me most about her personality on each
of our encounters,
gentleness, radiance, and a rare kindness. From the matching
of ethereal,
transparent and refined materials, to the focusing on the smallest
of details,
everything transmits delicacy and lightness, in a totally feminine
game of veiling and
unveiling. Nevertheless one also notes the determination of
a work carried forward
with tenacity, the need to voice one's feelings, the strength
of the artist who has
managed to create a personal expressive language with stylistic
coherence. |
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® since 2002, Marialuisa Sponga all rights reserved
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