Maria Positano
Untitled (shield), from the VENUS (you were born from the scum of the waters) series
found object, modelling wax, brazed and oxidised copper plates
45 x 45 x 15 cm
17 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 5 7/8 in
17 3/4 x 17 3/4 x 5 7/8 in
Further images
About VENUS: This new series is part of a body of work whose narrative stems from the myth of Venus, or Aphrodite; goddess of Beauty and Love [*wenos- ('desire')]. She...
About VENUS:
This new series is part of a body of work whose narrative stems from the myth of Venus, or Aphrodite; goddess of Beauty and Love [*wenos- ('desire')]. She was born from Uranus's testicles, which were thrown in the sea by Cronus, his son.
I was fascinated by the concept of beauty born from residues, from what is left, what is residual matter or from what is discarded. The nature of residual matter in my work is, one moment, the discarded element in a process, and the next, is the generative primal principle for a new making. These works are part of a project that I have been developing for the last 7 months, creating and taking apart so many versions of these final works. Attempting to disrupt the viewer’s experience of a ‘beautiful’ object, I have been exploring these issues by incorporating unusual material choices and sources (gilding on acrylic fake nails, bought off eBay; and waxes on recycled exhaust tube), and works with visually ‘unfinished’ qualities. I have been working on creating a body of works whose components (objects) closely relate (in scale and figure) to the viewer’s experience of the body or of bodily qualities.
This new series is part of a body of work whose narrative stems from the myth of Venus, or Aphrodite; goddess of Beauty and Love [*wenos- ('desire')]. She was born from Uranus's testicles, which were thrown in the sea by Cronus, his son.
I was fascinated by the concept of beauty born from residues, from what is left, what is residual matter or from what is discarded. The nature of residual matter in my work is, one moment, the discarded element in a process, and the next, is the generative primal principle for a new making. These works are part of a project that I have been developing for the last 7 months, creating and taking apart so many versions of these final works. Attempting to disrupt the viewer’s experience of a ‘beautiful’ object, I have been exploring these issues by incorporating unusual material choices and sources (gilding on acrylic fake nails, bought off eBay; and waxes on recycled exhaust tube), and works with visually ‘unfinished’ qualities. I have been working on creating a body of works whose components (objects) closely relate (in scale and figure) to the viewer’s experience of the body or of bodily qualities.