27 July 2011

Art I like - Ana Maria Pacheco

In 1998-2000 Ana Maria Pacheco was artist-in-residence at the National Gallery and from that time I remember her sculptural work - above is "Man with Sheep" (1989). I'm still intrigued and touched by the sense of mystery in the wood sculptures, and find them very "complete" and satisfying on the surface level but with a strong feeling of things-unsaid, stories-almost-told ... in the way that no good story should be completely told, but leave much to the imagination.

At the National Gallery, "Pacheco’s contact with early, pre-Renaissance Italian paintings put her in mind of reliefs and rekindled an interest in confronting the challenges of working between two and three dimensions and using colour." Among her artist's books is "Only a brief time here" (2007) - 2D work for "a series of painted relief sculptures that Ana Maria Pacheco will execute in three different materials: bronze, alabaster and wood. They are painted in tempera with a wash of oil, and some include the use of gold and metal leaf."
See the other 18 images in the series here (from which the images in this post derive). Born in Brazil, she studied music as well as art before coming to Britain in 1973 to study sculpture at the Slade. She practises as a sculptor, painter, and printmaker in Britain and exhibits world-wide. Journeying is a recurrent theme in her work, together with mysterious narratives, melodramatic encounters, sexuality, death, power, magic, and secrets.

Among her print series is "Hairy Legs of the Queen of Sheba" - see it here.

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