The Circle and the Flower
A wooden box used to ship a delicate consignment from Brazil turned out to be just what we needed to make a small theatre we called El círculo y la flor (2021). The box’s exterior still bears the marks of the journey it made, but the ceramic-lined interior is a now a place where life unfolds and art flows around characters that move as if they were alive, and indeed alive they are, for they dance, fly, hang and wander about from one spot to another. The door has opened and turned into a great wheel of fortune, revealing a room containing innumerable depictions of everyday life. Beneath this great plaza is an underworld of mechanisms powered by exhausted workers.
We took the title and idea from Leonardo, as the image displayed shows. Look for it. The brushstrokes from Van Gogh; the flow of the characters from Beatus codices; the dog from Goya; a posture from the wounded lioness; from the East, luxury; and from the popular, the earth. From the news, tragedy; from our memories, a scene, even a tribute. Everything has a place in this wheel of fortune, where characters float about, looking for their lucky break. Offerings given to us by the street, by others, by art.
Games are revealed and riddles conveyed, the value of which lies not in the answer but in the statement. Look for them, there are still many more. Windows that open, balconies that weep. Create your own conundrums from what you see and appreciate the queried illusions you may have to reformulate.
Much handiwork and effort has gone into achieving all this. Every day we looked at the idea from different angles before putting it in the oven and then taking it to its destination.
Ceramic – fragility and strength – has shown us the alchemy of the saying that true gold is that which beats in the heart. This is what we have discovered; perhaps you will too.