Mariona Vilaseca at Grey Projects
Local arts space Grey Projects, founded by artist Jason Wee, is, in its own words, looking at “art experiments, new writing, design and curatorial practices, and alternative projects.”
It does residencies too.
Spanish artist Mariona Vilaseca has been there for the past month, and the fruits of her labour are currently on view at GP’s temporary home at 47 Niven Road (only till August 22).
Mariona likes little things, and she likes repeating them.
The effect was disarming. Particularly winsome were her objects shaped from tissue paper and small wads of cotton wool, which she dyed a brilliant shade of vermillion (below). She remarked that her use of colour was at least partly inspired by the pervasiveness of food colouring she witnessed here — think the oleaginous gleam of blood-red ang ku kueh, or the mounds of tawny yellow rice served up as nasi briyani, or perhaps the various lurid hues that pickled fruit come in — and indeed her little shapes are vaguely reminiscent of foodstuffs. Strung up on a pole, the red lengths of tissue paper rather looked like dried peppers from afar; the swirled balls sitting in an open drawer and the flat pig-tailed squares on a pedestal could almost be pastries of a sort.
And, coincidentally or otherwise, when I was there last night Mariona kept trying to fatten her guests up with baked goods: coffee cookies, beancurd tarts …
The artist is also rather fond of conical forms, which, almost always rendered in black — another preferred hue — resemble mountains. The motif is repeated across a range of media: Indian ink on paper (constituted by reiterated dottings not unlike Seurat’s pointilist technique), small mounds of incense ash moulded into a series of military-like formations (below).
More reiterations below …. and Mariona herself.
ADDENDUM: This post has gotten a couple of comments from Spanish-speaking readers in their own language. Unfortunately, I’ve had to delete these. I mean no disrespect at all – indeed I tend to approve all comments made on this site, even the insolent, unconstructive ones (you know who you are) – but comprehensibility is the minimum requirement I think. Feel free to write in in the language of your choice, but do AT LEAST include a translation in English.
Thank you. Muchas gracias. 谢谢. Terima kasih. நன்றி. ありがとうございます. 감사합니다. Danke schön. Merci beaucoup.
