the relational nature of things
isabel cordeiro
29 januari 2017 - 25 februari 2017
Bradwolff Projects presents ‘The Relational Nature of Things’, a new series of works by artist Isabel Cordeiro. With her background in visual arts and architecture, Cordeiro explores the relationship between painting and sculpture.
Cordeiro’s works are inspired by a movement within color theory called Relationalism. Relationalism follows the idea that colors are dispositions formed by the relationships between the subject and the object. Although Relationalism suggests that this phenomenon depends on the presence of the subject, Cordeiro speculates that the same phenomenon can occur when objects come into contact with each other. ‘Colour is a witness to the relationship between things. It exists in order to map this relation.’ -Cordeiro
The Relational Nature of Things
Under the dome of Bradwolff Projects stands an installation: a series of wooden structures wrapped in cloth. Colored stains applied to this assemblage emphasize the relationship between the elements of painting and sculpture.
For Cordeiro, the actual ‘work’ is not present by means of objects. The actual work shifts in the relationship between the elements and gestures that are part of a two-part process: In the first stage, the sculptural object is wrapped in canvas. Cordeiro applies colored paint in a patterned manner, as a means of regulating and registering the sculptural whole [canvas and structure]. In the second stage, the sculptural elements that together form the work are separated: The painted canvas ‘behaves’ like a painting. The wooden structure is partially deconstructed. As a result of this fragmentation, each element acquires its own autonomy, while simultaneously bearing the traces of the preceding relationship in space. In this way, Cordeiro allows her works to exist as ‘networks’: dynamic systems of interconnected factors and/or actors.
Isabel Cordeiro [1973, Lisbon] received her Master’s in Fine Arts from the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam and her Master’s in Architecture from the Faculty of Architecture in Lisbon. Last year, Cordeiro exhibited in ‘Pushing Boundaries, Expanding Frontiers’ at the RAM Foundation in Rotterdam. She has also presented her work internationally at Glasgow Sculpture Studios [Glasgow], Halle 14 [Leipzig], Jorge Shirley Gallery [Lisbon], and Das Weisse Haus [Vienna].