Centre d’Etudes Catalanes Université de París-Sorbonne-París IV
9, rue de Sainte-Croix de la Bretonnerie 75004 PARIS
Seguint la ruta / En chemin
6 – 28 May, 2009
The Centre of Catalan Studies of Sorbonne University hosts the exhibition On the way / En chemin by the Catalan artist Lourdes Fisa.
With this name, the artist aims to show a real but at the same time imaginary journey, an endless trip, where each exhibition represents a stopover on the way. The artist’s interest towards mobility and contrasts is reflected on her works. Lourdes Fisa’s mind is constantly traveling, and she offers us the treasures she has found on the way: colors, textures, traces, mixtures of concepts, crossroads.
THE JOURNEY OF ART
Contemporary art can be expressed in many ways, from paintings to installations, as well as engraving, sculpture and photography, amongst other creative activities. When all of them converge within one single artist, he or she can be referred to as a multidisciplinary artist. This is the case of the Catalan artist Lourdes Fisa, whose recent works can be contemplated now in Paris.
The name of the exhibition is On the way, which is like the continuation of Ways of discovery. Camões from the Mediterranean, which was first displayed in mid-2007 in different European cities. Inspired by both the literary and the existing world of the Portuguese and universal poet from the 16th century, Fisa reflects on the search for new ways in art.
Lourdes Fisa retells a story as a journey, an endless trip, whose common thread is a journey through various cartographies that get us into a world of questions that will help us understand what may seem unreal but actually is not. This journey through time means getting closer to the ideas and thoughts of a series of characters who were pursuing some goals different from those of the artist but which mean being open to the unknown; and, in many senses, art shares this mysterious feature.
When one contemplates Lourdes Fisa’s artwork, one realizes that each of her pieces has a poetic background that approaches a conceptual idea going beyond anything our eyes can catch. The idea of merging diverging concepts, with an open mind that transmits thoughts and previous experiences, is a way to claim art as a way to knowledge.
Besides these conceptual considerations, the technique used by the artist is equally important, since most of the exhibited pieces show an interest towards experimentation with various formats and materials. For instance, she has made glass fiber look like wax or parchment, and at times it gets some volume. Photography, engraving and paper are also used in collages.
Lourdes Fisa works in the field of abstractionism; some of her pictorial works may contain indecipherable elements like traces or helical shapes, whereas others may contain more descriptive elements such as symbols, texts and images. The representation of all those trips, journeys or ways through lines and traces highlights the relation between the past and the present. Time and space are the main roads through which mankind guides its own existence, on the travelers’ way, searching for new territories to conquer in the 21st century.
Ramon Casalé
