Naïve are those who think their lives are not inextricably connected to the place they come from. Whether you love it, hate it or simply feel a part of it, the region where you grow up will always influence you, even when you don’t expect it to.
It wasn’t without wonder that I discovered how much I need mountains to feel at home in a city. Flat lands can be fun, fabulous or even fantastic, but they’ll always feel foreign to me.
In a place where mountains mean mines, I also feel a strange connection to everything metal, especially iron. It is quite weird, but I do tend to like art that manifests itself through the means of metal.
When I first saw Lézart, a sculpture piece by Brazilian contemporary artist Tunga, I immediately felt connected to it:
Lézart, 1989
Using magnets, iron and copper, this piece creates a wonderful illusion of gigantic combs with metal hair hanging from them. It is like the crude value of the material can only be refined into beauty by the hands and hair of humans.
The tittle, Lézart (‘lizard’ in French) makes me think of how nature can still crawl onto us, reminding us of where we came from and the fact that there is no escape from that. It is as if we our origins are sticky or magnetic.
As for my interpretations, they are a clear proof that places of emotion can affect one’s judgement. I almost feel a poem coming.
Well, false alarm.
Idealistico 