New work by CESAR FORERO

continuing

John A. Pollock Courtyard

Earth. Water. Fire. Air. The four elements have been used for centuries as a means of explaining and understanding our existence and relationship to the world around us. Inspired by this, Cesar Forero has created an incredibly vibrant and dramatic installation that breaks through pictorial and sculptural confines and to physically include the viewer within.

Forero draws upon the training he received as an architect, as well as an artist, in creating this environment. His work emphasizes expressiveness and grandeur, achieved through scale, dramatic use of light and shadow, and elaborate decoration. Essentially in a colourful cascade clouds of water appear do descend from the sky, pouring down upon the courtyard walls. Their foam and fury is accentuated through coils of shiny metal affixed to their surfaces which gleam in the sun and cast shadows, creating glorious depth.

The waterfall cascade continues down, spilling upon the courtyard floor where seven clay “islands” are placed strategically. Amidst these islands are scattered marbles and brightly coloured bits of ceramic flotsam and jetsam. While they naturally reference the continuance of the waterfall’s flow, they also appear at the same time as the bits and pieces left over after Carnival.

The “islands” sit upon broken ceramic foundations, created with amorphous brightly glazed ceramic pieces. These foundations infer an interrupted landscape of some sort. The “islands” themselves have great earthy presence and seem to be in process of emerging, creating themselves and their shapes from the infinite possibilities offered by the earth. While the islands are undoubtedly organic in feel, there is something very human about them as well. In one sense, the artist has anthropomorphized the very elements themselves, cohesively suggesting that we are all a part of nature and that nature – the four elements – are a part of us.

The theme of the four elements puts the focus on materials, and Forero is inventive and adroit in his representations of earth, air, water and fire. Within his monumental installation are natural and manmade materials in unusual combinations and juxtapositions which allow him to fully explore the interplay of nature and artifice, paradox and transformation. Psychological, playful, spiritual Forero’s works contain all the elements needed to create a truly unique environment.