La Jornada: Maribel Portela conceives her pieces as “bodies of memory”

More than objects, sculptor Maribel Portela sees her pieces as “bodies of memory.” This concept is evident in vertical codices, individual exhibition mounted at the San Pablo Cultural Center, of the Alfredo Harp Helú Oaxaca Foundation. In it, the 57 clay sculptures are intervened with drawings made in black and reddish slips, and conceived as narrative surfaces.

“Is called Codices because it is an interpretation of a language that does not lead you to a reading, because there are no signs or letters; On the other hand, all the surfaces of the sculptures are like a narrative,” he says.

Each piece “functions as a fragment of a visual language that seeks to build very open stories that can transport the viewer to worlds and languages ​​that do not exist; they only remain in the imagination and memory. It does not create a narrative that carries a thread. Many are very organic forms.” The sample also includes Volcano, sculpture made of recycled paper specifically for Vertical codices.

Portela has been working on this series for three years and this is the first time she has exhibited it as such. So far it consists of more than 100 pieces. The exhibition includes some “horizontal” sculptures, a dimension that he is interested in exploring: “we always think that sculpture is something vertical, because the horizontal tends to get lost in the confines.”

Drawing as an exploration tool

The artist had maintained an “in and out” relationship with ceramics; that is, without developing such a rich body of work in this material. (For your large installation dream garden He moved 127 “very white and clean” pieces to the Museum of Art of the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit, in 2009.) With this series he wanted to explore new ways of constructing and intervening in the pieces through drawing.

Clay is a material that has always been present in his work. In addition to being “very noble”, its processes are very long and it is difficult to move the pieces. Vertical codices arose from exploring new ways of approaching sculpture. Portela has always been interested in creating “environments”, so that the viewer “can take a tour and understand the pieces. That’s why I do so many. It’s not that I hold a sculpture exhibition and that each one works, although they do do it alone. I’m more interested in the group, that you can move between the pieces.”

Its production process is delicate and long: “when you finish the pieces you think they are all fantastic and it turns out that they are not.

“I start two or three works at a time because, unless it is very hot, the mud allows me to build.

“In the exhibition there are pieces that measure 2 meters and 40 centimeters; that is, very large to make in ceramics. You cannot go at a constant speed because you have to wait for them to dry and support the added weight.”

Then “you have to wait for them to dry completely. They all have a white, porcelain slip. Then, they have a black slip and a reddish slip, which I prepare with these lines and drawings.

“Some are very geometric, others very free and still others have certain plants and microscopic things. I apply the slip, I paint, I burn, because I do a single firing. I don’t parboil. Most ceramists do a previous firing and then do the final one. However, with the contamination I feel a little remorseful about burning gas.

“Sometimes I make a sketch and base it on that. But most of the time I feel and grow with the pieces. I see where I want, where I make the volume, where I limit it, how far I grow it. In the exhibition a large part of the pieces are small format, 40, 50 and 80 centimeters.”

Primitive cultures in the lines

Regarding the themes, he points out that “many of the lines in the pieces are references to primitive cultures. Simply, because of that almost monochromatic thing that is only white, black and reddish, it refers a lot, even to cave paintings.

“Suddenly I have that feeling of a trace. What I do in drawing is very new for me. Yes, I had done it before, but not in this way, since I prefer cleaner forms. However, this time I used these elements that take me back to primitive cultures.

“Maybe some things seem like Incas to you, others from Teotihuacan, others from the northwest of the United States. It’s not that they are exact references, but the drawings have more freedom.”

Maribel Portela: Vertical Codices It will remain until November at the San Pablo Cultural Center, (Hidalgo 907, Historical Center, Oaxaca de Juárez).