Preludios y Partidas

"Art and science share the goal of understanding the world around us, and within us. My own process proposes theories that reinterpret our shared reality and are enacted through the methodology of form. Through interactions between an audience and the objects, these theories are tested, validated, discarded, or evolved in a continuous line of inquiry. The accumulated conceptual discoveries and material strategies ultimately attest to our interconnectedness, helping to expand the boundaries of our realities and dissolving the illusion of our existential isolation."

Cristina Córdova makes figurative ceramic sculptures of profound pathos. The intensity of the gaze of the figures expresses an ambiguous state of being, like captured souls in fragmented bodies, searching for an elusive exit.

While the title of this installation and mise-en-scènes of the figures may cause us to contemplate a narrative, the artist would like us to tap into deeper psycho-spiritual sensibilities within this composition and ourselves.

Córdova's perspective derives from her interest in Renaissance sculpture and in great part from her upbringing in Puerto Rico, the drama and mystery of the Roman Catholic Church there, as well as her training as a dancer, with a focus on the body as receptacle and communication.

Science and art combine in Córdova's making. Creating armatures for the figures and boulders or island required testing of the armatures.

Using hand-building clay techniques, extremely challenging on a monumental scale, the process the artist perfected required many months of trial-and-error efforts determining the weight of the clay, drying duration, and firing details.