Gloria Carlos
Enveloped
16th June - 20th July 2024
Opening event: 16th June 2pm - 4pm
Enveloped
16th June - 20th July 2024
Opening event: 16th June 2pm - 4pm
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Gloria Carlos leaves her figurative as well as actual fingerprints all over the sculptures she makes. Her works look haptic and while with the larger pieces the viewer is not allowed to touch or handle them, her smaller work, seen in a craft context is wearable, haptic art. Her larger works are made from metal, plaster, and found objects while her jewellery pieces can be made from silver, gold, brass and hand beaten iron. She can weld and use a forge and anvil and is known for hand beating the works into creation. Her jewellery work has found its way into Hollywood and can be seen in the Mama Mia 2 movie around the neck of no less an icon that Cher, and on the hands and wrists of Daenerys Targaryen in the Game of Thrones television series. Her aesthetic is timeless or rather one that would not look out of place in many other previous times.
Carlos’ larger sculpture have an organic feel to them, they often look a bit like they might be living creatures, startled for a moment, stopped, so that they can assess the situation and the viewer. They seem to look back at us. She often mixes odd materials as in Envelope, where pink painted clay is pierced by a huge rusty nail she found in the Thames, or has the clay slowly surrounded enveloped the nail? It is hard to say, and the tension between the two elements is what holds our attention. The newest works she plans to exhibit at MOCA London take these concepts further. She says that “I work with plaster and found materials and objects. I love the versatility and immediacy of plaster, of applying it directly with my hands, its tactile and textural nature. My use and choice of objects is done with intention and purpose and becomes an integral part of the shaping of the piece as a whole.” In one of the new works a white plaster form curls in on itself while sitting onto a green metal industrial lamp shade. In another work a shiny silver shaped form envelops an antique base, which flares out. It looks like it might be a candle holder or the base of some Victorian lamp, and the silver form compliments and completes it. It also looks like its biomorphic neck has been snapped in two. It has the sad feel of a dead animal. In another work a black painted plaster object also tucks it head and long neck into a found object. Here it laces itself into the handle of a beaten-up aluminium colander. This object looks like it is alive and might carefully pull its head out and fly off, yet I wonder what it means to Carlos, what void does it either fill or allude to. Dr. Michael Petry Exhibition E-Book https://www.gloriacarlos.com/ @gloria_carlos |
Biography:
“All my work is conceived from life experiences that my brain translates and expresses into shapes.
Though I begin with a specific visual and emotional context in mind, the joy for me is when the creative process leads me to new and unexpected places.
I work with plaster and found materials and objects. I love the versatility and immediacy of plaster, of applying it directly with my hands, its tactile and textural nature. My use and choice of objects is done with intention and purpose and becomes an integral part of the shaping of the piece as a whole.
Although my work is very personal and specifically meaningful to me, I actually prefer the viewer to draw their own interpretation and love it when this leads them somewhere perhaps very different from my original intention so the piece then takes on a life of its own.”
“All my work is conceived from life experiences that my brain translates and expresses into shapes.
Though I begin with a specific visual and emotional context in mind, the joy for me is when the creative process leads me to new and unexpected places.
I work with plaster and found materials and objects. I love the versatility and immediacy of plaster, of applying it directly with my hands, its tactile and textural nature. My use and choice of objects is done with intention and purpose and becomes an integral part of the shaping of the piece as a whole.
Although my work is very personal and specifically meaningful to me, I actually prefer the viewer to draw their own interpretation and love it when this leads them somewhere perhaps very different from my original intention so the piece then takes on a life of its own.”