Fernanda Cortes
Ceramics
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Fernanda Cortes Image List 01_f_cortes La Muerte podría encontrarte donde sea, incluso aquí, sentada 2017 - 3890€ 61.5 cm x19.5 cm x 17 cm Hand-sculpted porcelain. Electric kiln. From the series ‘MITLA: Place of the dead’. Mourning, probably it is like love: you wait, you eat, you talk, you watch, you scream and you repeat actions like that, in multiple ways, and with the passing of the time you get used to the emotions of the other. That is not so far from the activities we do in our life. The Death stops being scary because it is seen quite often. 02_f_cortes El padre, el hijo y el espíritu santo 2017 - 1300€ 10 cm x 12 cm x 19 cm, 9.5 cm x 12.5 cm x 17.5 cm 10 cm x 18.5 cm x13 cm Hand-sculpted porcelain. Electric kiln. From the series ‘MITLA: Place of the dead’. When I was a child, my father uses to take me to the market where all the stalls were selling preparations for the Day of the Death. In Mexico, all the sugar skulls are piled up, one on top of another, and some of them have the name of a dead person written on them. My dad said, ‘Pick up the one with your name’. The repetition of these skulls is not just a technical challenge with porcelain, it is also the challenge of the repetition of the self. It is curious though, it takes me more time to sculpt skulls than entire bodies. 03_f_cortes No es macabro 2017 - 2225€ 48 cm x 18 cm x 21 cm Hand-sculpted porcelain and purple glaze. Electric kiln. From the series ‘MITLA: Place of the dead’. In Mexico, it is a tradition to decorate tombs and altars with sugar skulls. I always ate them after the ceremony for the Day of the Death. In eyes of foreigners our acts may look macabre, but for a culture that lives with death, it is just another normal habit.
T: +44 (0)7849 272 819 W: fernandacortes.com I: instagram.com/fer.corte
04_f_cortes You Will Find Yourself in Darkness 2016 - 890€ 61.5 cm x 19.5 cm x 17 cm Hand-sculpted earthenware, black and tin colour slip, transparent glaze and glass. Electric kiln. From the series ‘Sharik’s Leftovers’. Implosion is the concept of this sculpture. When you sink into yourself, it is not possible to walk, to hear, to see, and you are transiting between darkness and light. 05_f_cortes Romeos (Tulip vase) 2016 - 1445€ 61.5 cm x 54.5 cm x 41 cm Hand-sculpted earthenware, shiny tin glaze, and decorated with drawings made with cobalt. Electric kiln. It is composed of different size cubes, ascending, creating the illusion of instability, which is also a reference to the volatile nature of the ‘Tulip mania’ (1636 – 1637) The drawings are personal memories of my ex-partners. My second name is Julieta and in this Tulip vase are all the volatile Romeos. 06_f_cortes Delicatessen 2016 - P.O.A. Dimensions variable (6 pieces) Hand-sculpted earthenware, coloured slips, shiny red, transparent glaze and lustre. Electric kiln. From the series ‘Sharik’s leftovers’. I sculpted dog paws as a kind of ‘memento mori’ of the fictional character. I created a texture that refers to raw meat such as is found hanging in butcher shops. We may not care to think about the once living animal, rather, we think only of the deliciousness of the meat we can make with its dead flesh. These fragments therefore represent pieces of innocence. 07_f_cortes The Crucifixion Starts with a New Day 2016 - 1335€ 61.5 cm x 54.5 cm x 41 cm Hand-sculpted earthenware, coloured slips, semi-matt, shiny yellow and transparent glaze. Electric kiln. From the series ‘Sharik’s leftovers’. Waking up every morning with the task: to recognize yourself and recover your consciousness.It is just for the livings. T: +44 (0)7849 272 819 W: fernandacortes.com I: instagram.com/fer.corte
08_f_cortes Forza 2016 - 1110€ 73 cm x 28 cm x 18 cm Hand-sculpted Earthenware, variety of colour slip, semi-matt glaze and transparent glaze. Electric kiln. I remembered they said ‘it is impossible’ and then he was just standing in front of us full of ‘forza’. A memory of when I was studying at RCA, and one of the tutors certain the clay sculpture would not remain standing. 09_f_cortes la-la-la ‘in blood’ 2016 - 1615€ 43cm x 90cm x 20cm Hand-sculpted earthenware, coloured slips, shiny red and transparent glaze. Electric kiln. From the series ‘Sharik’s leftovers’. If Sharik was female, probably it would be like this, like some of my other fellow students. Pretty, graceful, but entirely cover in blood. 10_f_cortes Te Toca 2016 - 445€ 18cm × 18cm × 23.5cm Hand-sculpted earthenware, black semi-matt glaze and lustre. Electric kiln.
T: +44 (0)7849 272 819 W: fernandacortes.com I: instagram.com/fer.corte
Fernanda Cortes Appendix 1 ‘Sharik’s Leftovers’ Project, 2016:
My work for the Royal College of Arts Final Show starts with a story: a piece of magic realism written by Mikhail Bulgakov, about a street dog called Sharik that is scientifically experimented upon by having his brain removed and a human one transplanted in its place. He survives this operation and after a few weeks starts to display human intelligence and behaviour - including the ability to speak and communicate human-like demands and desires. However, at this point of articulation, the operation is reversed and his canine brain is restored so that he becomes a dog again. I sculpted a repetition of the character in different positions and emotions, and then I realised I was doing a representation of myself and the experience of mourning.
‘Mitla:Place of the dead’ Project, 2017:
MITLA was the progression from my MA dissertation at the RCA, ‘Clay & Suicide’, in which I narrate the process of loss at history, art and literature, informed by a personal experience. MITLA was an opportunity to speak about this loss and place it in another context in life. I explored what happens after a loss, and how public rituals help to create conscious, of our existence. This text was displayed in vynil at the entrance to the gallery during the exhibition: ‘I was in the middle of the earth. I was scared. I was scared of him and the image he engraved inside of me. I was alone. I was being eaten by Death. Everything was a theatre. Suddenly a door was open, he was there staring at me and he asked, ‘what are you doing?’ and he approached me in a singular playful movement. He grabbed my hand and after that he hugged me, and now we are out of the dark room. I met her. She let me walk her dogs. She doesn’t know but I was hunting with them, I was being another dog. I walked on green grass, I stayed long hours watching the hills, running next to the dog pretending we were forgotten in the middle of the woods. We were surviving. And then, the idea of a space of death. Not just a room. A big massive forest, a city, a party, who cares? And inside it, it’s not just me. And they are also crossing, mourning, and their tears transform into our tears, their laughs into our laughs and then I realised who I was in the middle of the masses. So I thought about them and after looking at one another I realised we were in Mitla’
T: +44 (0)7849 272 819 W: fernandacortes.com I: instagram.com/fer.corte