The Contemporary Art Modern Project is pleased to announce Entre Dos Orillas, an online solo exhibition featuring a selection of works by Canarian textile artist Violeta Caldrés.
The Contemporary Art Modern Project is pleased to announce Entre Dos Orillas, an online solo exhibition featuring a selection of works by Canarian textile artist
Violeta Caldrés.
Culture, by definition, is no more or less than a complicated system of values, practices, and habits defined by a group of people. It can also be simply put as a way of life, a detail that governs an individual’s perspective. Although individuals are largely responsible for how they interpret their own culture, it goes without saying that it’s more than just a way of life. Culture is, not entirely but significantly, a fusion of history, influence, and interpretations that color the way we experience life as humans.
Violeta Caldrés’ latest series, Entre Dos Orillas, is a testimony to the symbolic relationship between her homes in the Canary Islands and Morocco, two geographical territories with a storied and centuries-long relationship. Friction evolves into harmony as Caldres explores cultural symbiosis through her distinctively feminine, whimsical-cum-reverent expression. The exhibition, titled after the series, is a rich synthesis of history and culture embodied through experimentation with media, pattern, symbols, and technique.
Caldrés’ uses materials such as acrylic and sequins juxtaposed with delicate hand-embroidery and drawing on raw linen to delicately integrate classical Arabic and indigenous Berber motifs and techniques—geometric patterns, calligraphy, flora, and warm color palettes and textile work, respectively. Her use of henna in particular, a historically feminine tattooing tradition, is emblematic of the profound relationship Caldrés has forged with the cultures within her sphere of influence; henna traditions are closely linked with significant moments in the lives of the tattoos’ recipients. Her representations of cultural-historical realities in the Atlantic also manifest in a color palette she refers to as “special”: gold, orange, red, and the occasional pink transforms images of quotidian experience into surrealistic evocations of confidence, joy, and a self-assuredness that is markedly feminine. The symbols present in this exhibition are just as thoughtful as they are studied, a direct application of cultural markers for luxury, identity, and liberty in the spaces Caldrés occupies. The intentional tethering of color and textures in the series, notable in pieces such as My House is Between Two Hearts and The Connexion, breathes life into an interrogation of self that is both intimate and fearless.
Entre Dos Orillas, which translates to “between two shores,” is an ode to Caldrés’ observations of cultures separated by approximately 767 miles—a body of work inspired in tandem by the cities of Tenerife and Fes, and captured with respect and adoration for the complexities of of culture, femininity, and history.
Curation and statement: Maria Gabriela Di Giammarco