JOANA VASCONCELOS

A couple of years ago, I took a look on some French art magazine, whose cover featured a photograph of beautiful and enormous, several-metre tall stilettos, standing in Versailles, labelled Joana Vasconcelos.

“It’s so beautiful!” I thought.

MARILYN

Joseolgon / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

A couple of years later, I stumbled upon an exhibition of her works while touring the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. There, I could finally see these shoes with my own eyes. In the meantime, I didn’t really take any interest to learn more about her works, so I wasn’t really aware what to expect. What came next was a feeling of shock.

“Damn! They’re made of pots!”

► JOTA ENE ◄ from Lisboa, Portugal / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Back in the day, I also saw a beautiful crystal chandelier made by Joana. Now, I could see it from up close. It was made of OB tampons. I’d lie if I said I wasn't disappointed.

THE BRIDE

Martin Kennedy (filmed by) / Studio International. Visual Arts, Design and Architecture. studiointernational.com / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

I decided to dig deeper and find out what the artist has to say in her “defence”.

OBJECTS

Joana Vasconcelos holds some very specific and particular views and ideas, which she expresses with her art, for example by means of the material she uses in her works. Her pieces combine tradition and modernity, home life and life in itself, simplicity, modesty and glam. Stilettos made of pots, a mask of mirrors or a gun comprised of phones.

I'LL BE YOUR MIRROR

Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

The artist makes a brilliant use of everyday objects. Sometimes, one might encounter her at a supermarket, buying countless teddy bears for her next installation. She gives everyday objects a new perspective and meaning by using them in large quantities and creating new objects, characterised by enormous size. The artist invites the viewer to her home and her imagination – THE BRIDE is an invitation to the bathroom and MARYLIN welcomes the viewers to the artist’s kitchen.

CRAFT

Joana Vasconcelos is very fond of tradition, particularly craft, which often constitutes the core of her works. She employs at least 20 different specialists and experts in their respective fields – dressmakers, embroiderers, architects, lace makers and engineers, and all her works are truly hand-made. Employing craftspeople from different countries and cultural backgrounds is no accident – that’s a part of combining tradition with modernity. It’s also a way to build symbolic bridges between cultures. As the artist herself says, we cannot function only in the contemporary times, isolated from the past, which is mediated by crafts.

VALKYRIE

Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

ART WITHOUT FRONTIERS

Joana Vasconcelos’ exhibitions are more involved than just moving the pieces from one place to another. The artist prepares carefully for each one of her exhibitions. When presenting her Valkyries in Denmark, she studied Scandinavian culture and the local colours, adapting her works to the Danish light and culture. The Valkyrie created for the Versailles differs from those created for Venice and Manchester. The former is very subdued and its colours blend in with the room. The Venice one is colourful. This all shows that the artist does her best to adapt her works to the place they are shown in, because cultures, as well as perception of light and colour are different in each of them. The light in Denmark is not the same as in Portugal, the same goes to the perception of colours.

“I’m not an invader,” claims the artist, respecting the people she makes her art for. Before she organised an exhibition in Manchester, she made an attempt to get to know and understand the city, she also used English-made fabrics in her sculptures. The United Kingdom can really appreciate her installations, since the combination of modern present times with fondness for tradition is one of the characteristic features of that monarchy.

VALKYRIE

By Amanda Slater from Coventry, West Midlands, UK - Valkyrie Marina Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89371842

PLAYING WITH THE AUDIENCE

A large shoe made of small pots?

A giant heart created out of plastic cutlery?

A mask made of mirrors,

a ring made of car rims,

a blooming flower made of irons?

RED INDEPENDENT HEART

By Alex Liivet from Chester, United Kingdom - Coração Independente Vermelho, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=71969901

SOLITAIRE

By Joseolgon - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79448316

Why not? The sheer scale and repetition give the audience an opportunity to change their perception of a given object, thus giving it a new meaning. The artist skilfully plays with scale of the piece, the place where it is exhibited, the way it is installed and lit up, as well as the materials she uses, all to establish a dialogue with the viewer. The scale enables us to experience dualism – from afar, we see a beautiful stiletto, but when we come up close, we see nothing but hundreds of pots. One can experience the sculpture from a distance, or come closer and experience either disappointment or delight.

FEMINIST?

I don’t think so, at least that's not how she defines herself. This does not mean that she is indifferent to the problems experienced by women, and she notices that women have fewer rights than men. She took note of the fact that the first woman curator at the Venice exhibition joined only in 2005, and that women are now between a rock and a hard place, trying to run homes and make careers at the same time.

As a woman, she introduced fabrics and lace to contemporary art, which are now equal to iron, steel and bronze. She proved that large and meaningful installations can be made out of medicine boxes,  and by wrapping animal figures, garden sculptures and computers with hand-made lace, she enables us to look at them from a completely different perspective.

By Alicia Nijdam from Cordoba, Argentina - Belem Palace with pieces by Joana VasconcelosUploaded by JotaCartas, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31225247

Personally, I find it hard to admire all of her works unequivocally. I like Marilyn and Bride, but I’d rather watch them from a distance. I barely noticed Valkyries in Bilbao, but Solitaire was truly delightful – perhaps it was because I could see it from a distance as well. I’m an amateur, a novice art aficionado, and as one, I’m very curious as to what art history will have to say about these great works. Although if you ask me, if I had a time machine, I’d certainly take Joana Vasconcelos’ beautiful stilettos with me.