EXPO ‘WALKA STUDIO – MATADERO’ – El Bigote del Sr. Smith, Barcelona (ES) – 17-18-19 Oct. 2013
OFF JOYA : Walka Studio – Matadero // 17,18 y 19 Octubre
Matadero, the latest series of Walka Studio (Santiago de Chile), is the product of a long investigation about the symbolical and aesthetic characteristics of body ornamentation in the Pacific Basin, as well as the experimentation with new methods to work cacho de buey (horn), a traditional material in Chilean craft. The series is composed of neckpieces, a jewel category that steps away from the more habitual European brooch and alludes to the prevailing ornament used by Pacific cultures.
The relationship established between body and ornament in Matadero reveals how social custom and stigmas around the subject of death or murder of animals, affect our capacity to deem animal remains as acceptable materials, thus disregarding the origin of body ornamentation and the sacred connotations associated with it in the cultures of the Pacific Islands (Polynesia) and Latin America.
Matadero, which translates to slaughterhouse, uses both horn and hooves, a development of a previous collection in which the material had been treated delicately and tinted a faint pink colour. On this occasion the neckpieces have been deconstructed, burnt, abused and recomposed with a result that fascinates and repulses. The slaughtered pieces allude to one of the darkest periods in Chilean history: the 17 year long dictatorship which is still a source of preoccupation and reflection for many artists.
Chile ́s peculiar geographic situation is another important reference, a narrow strip, wedged between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes mountains. The pieces are woven together using the wool of Andean Alpacas in comforting supports and lace. The result is soft, light and smoothing; surprisingly easy and comfortable to wear, as soon as the repulsion produced by the idea of wearing burnt bones has waned. By being worn they complete their cycle.
Matadero becomes a synonym for duality: a conjunction of cultures, materials, processes, meanings and historical periods in an unusual but profoundly skilful way.
Walka Studio represents duality in all the sense of the word. Claudia Betancourt, intuitive, emotional and profoundly interested in local crafting traditions, she stems from a family of generations of cacho de buey or bull’s horn artisans. Nano Pulgar, shrewd, rational and highly experimental. They both stand at opposite ends of the spectrum of the creative process. Together they execute a fluid dance which teases the boundaries between art and design, maintaining a clear notion of the local and a wide, but critical, view of the foreign. And they often engage in clever actions to create a larger and more inclusive audience, intervening public realm and partnering with spaces not traditionally associated to the exhibition of artistic jewellery.
El Bigote del Sr. Smith
Carrer de Joaquín Costa, 38
08001 Barcelona
