"Valeria Nascimento: BLOOM" opens May 3rd

About

Nature is the main source of inspiration for Nascimento, its beauty, essence and ephemerality rendered in delicate porcelain sculpture. The Brazilian artist’s architectural background informs the structure of her designs in interior spaces, making them small, intimate compositions or oversized site-specific installations.   Painstakingly rolling the porcelain ceramic to make it paper-thin, Nascimento cuts and sculpts her shapes before they are fired at high temperatures. Delicate rings, blossoms, petals, cups and other botanical elements emerge from the kilns, their colors transformed into soft, muted tones of creams, whites, blues, greys and blacks. 

The small sculptures are arranged in clusters and systems to create large blooms and other flora encased in Perspex or mounted directly onto the wall.  These works will be featured alongside two large-scale installations for which she is known.  The first, an explosion of hibiscus blossoms in white and grey hues will grace an entire gallery wall measuring over 100 feet.  Rainforest, a more immersive hanging mobile installation, will transform the gallery space to an environment with suspended petals, flowers, seeds, branches and other natural forms. Nascimento takes the viewer on a meditative journey through botanical scenery, providing an ethereal experience with the weightlessness of the material.