CALCIFY, 2019
Calcify
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm
2019
[ Image of a sculpture in gray plaster created by the imprint of three contracted female bodies, viewed from the side. The three imprints are stacked on top of each other over a textured plaster based. The volume of the three plaster bodies stand on a glass plinth that contains sand. The whole sculpture is installed on a dark metal plinth. On the bodies, the plaster presents the texture of fingerprints and gestural movements imprinted when creating the mold. The texture of the plaster base recalls the sediments of shells and fossils specific to the stone found in the Pompei region. The three bodies are to scale. ]
CALCIFY
2019
Drawing from the term used to describe the plaster cast bodies of Pompeii, calchi, Cerqueira Leite’s Calcify sees the artist reproducing her body several times from molds using negatives in clay and plaster. Her position is the familiar contracted pose of the calchi, known to forensic scientists as the pugilistic attitude—where the body contracts posthumously into a boxer-like pose following exposure to intense heat. Like the Pomepiian calchi, Calcify both acts as and recalls fossils, even including marine creates trapped in stone found in Pompeii.
Calcify (detail)
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm
2019
[ Image of a close up of the arms and shoulders of plaster female bodies, view from the side. The plaster presents the texture of fingerprints and gestural movements imprinted when creating the mold. ]
![Calcify (detail)Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay140 x 45 x 100 cm2019[ Image of a close up of the stacked plaster bodies, view from the front.]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5963e48cccf210d03bed753a/1569258069980-1AOUCHFUO0BEH8Z3U0K5/__F_8816.jpg)
Calcify (detail)
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm
2019
[ Image of a close up of the stacked plaster bodies, view from the front.]
Calcify (detail)
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm
2019
[ Image of a close up on the plaster base dotted by the imprint of shells. The texture of the plaster base recalls the sediments of shells and fossils specific to the stone found in the Pompei region.]
Calcify (detail)
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm
2019
[ Image of a close up on one plaster foot. In this area, the outer surface is smooth and the details of the fingernail are visible, while the inner surface presents a coarser texture and some material excess from the casting.]
Calcify
Aquaresin, hydrocal, steel, glass, limestone sand, glass fiber, pigment, clay
140 x 45 x 100 cm
2019
[ Image of the sculpture Calcify as installed in the National Archeological Museum of Naples, during a photo shoot. Image of a sculpture in gray plaster created by the imprint of three contracted female bodies, viewed from the side. The three imprints are stacked on top of each other over a textured plaster based. The volume of the three plaster bodies stand on a glass plinth that contains sand. The whole sculpture is installed on a dark metal plinth with a rectangular base, longer on the sides than the glass plinth that is part of the sculpture. Behind the sculpture there’s a white photo background. At the right of the sculpture, there’s installed another piece, an ancient metal sculpture of a life sized fawn. On the left side of the image, in the foreground and slightly out of focus, one can recognize parts of the Juliana Cerqueira Leite’s sculpture Contraction, a tall stack of hollow plaster elements. ]
SHOWS
