DINA GONZALEZ MASCARO vessels are never empty
vessels are never empty journey from the Mountain to the Vessel... from meditation to action from drawing to sculpture from charcoal to clay from death to life
Dina González Mascaró’s art practice is based in constructivist, brutalist experimentation with numerous sources of materials. The result is a vast body of work where a series of contradictory forms play together. The development of this body of work began with piles of structural elements forming mountain-like structures that could be broken down into spaces within. The structures are juxtaposed with organ- shaped vessels that breathe within these spaces. Exploring an object’s shape, structure, materiality and how the interior connects or relates to the exterior, Gonzalez Mascaro’s vessels appear both like a cocoon where transformation takes place but also as open lungs, connected to the physical world, to the body, breathing a new energy. The journey within these spaces and around these vessels describes the highly personal journey of the artist searching for understanding during a period of grief and loss surrounding the death of her parents and the ontological relationship between life, death and the body.
1
wooden form mountain
2
deep in the mountain
3
heart
5
wooden vessel
6
together in silence
4
vessel in a vessel
7
strange shadow
8
breathing larnax
9
open
10
placed
11
rested
12
pareja
13
redondo
14
gone
15
torso
16
larnax
Statement As a sculptor, my work is always an exploration of volume, regardless of the medium. Volume is worked via themes of structure, architecture, construction, demolition, nature, decay, memory and loss. My ideas are expressed in drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, and objects.
Vessels are Never Empty is the culmination of a body of work made following the death of my mother, the greatest and most personal loss I have experienced. Drawings in the series “holes and energy”, “dark” and “rooms” are a result of the exploration of that loss. Through a study about how space / landscape shapes and defines the human psyche, this work began inspired by the “Womb Mountains” of Asia. Like the pilgrims, who, seeking answers, enter these mountains and pass through small claustrophobic and obscure caves to find transformation, I went “inside” my own (drawn) mountains with the same objective… to navigate an obscure period, using a repetitive action as my meditative path: drawing. Drawing as a way of dealing with death, drawing as a potential source of answers, drawing as a way to traverse a great sadness. I came out of the drawings and back into the material world, creating a space for this transformation inside vessels, and in relation to the structures and frameworks that form ourselves and our societies. The development of this body of work began with piles of structural elements forming mountains and evolved, breaking down into rooms (spaces within the mountains, within oneself ) and then into a more metaphysical space of holes and energy. Dina González Mascaró Vancouver April 2019
From the mountain structures she “entered” to meditate to the vessels she molded to contain the transformation of energy, Dina González Mascaró has built a delimited place that acts not only as a container but is also a way to put in place the ontological relationship between life, death and the body and finally to let go…
vessels are never empty
vessels are never empty list of works
1 wooden form mountain 50.5” x 65.5” charcoal and graphite on paper 2015 2 deep in the mountain 42” x 50.5” charcoal and graphite on paper 2016 3 heart 32” x 40” charcoal and graphite on paper 2017 4 vessel in a vessel 22” x 30” charcoal and graphite on paper 2017 5 wooden vessel 22” x 30” conte, charcoal and graphite on paper 2017 6 together in silence 22” x 30” conte, charcoal and graphite on paper 2017 7 strange shadow 22” x 30” conte, charcoal and graphite on paper 2017 8 breathing larnax 10.5” x 10.5” x 47.5” ceramic, wood, acrylic 2018
9 open 11” x 14” x 48” ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 10 placed 12” x 16” x 52.5” ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 11 rested 21” x 31” x 50” ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 12 pareja 18” x 16” x 15” (on plinth - height variable) ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 13 redondo 13” x 17.5” x 16.5” (on plinth - height variable) ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 14 gone 12.5” x 17.5” x 21” (on plinth - height variable) ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 15 torso 14.5” x 17.75” x 21” (on plinth - height variable) ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019 16 larnax 32” x 48” x 74” ceramic, wood, acrylic 2019
Sculpture photos: Rachel Topham Photography Drawing photos: Joelle Ciona and Jenn Van Evra All artwork Dina Gonzalez Mascaro 2015 - 2019
www.dinagm.com April 2019