March 26, 2014 Biennale continued-Humble materials

Some of you, especially those from the Southwest U.S. such as Santa Fe and environs will be familiar with milagros, also called ex-votos, religious folk charms used to elicit healing from the divine.  In that part of the world they are little charms, fashioned in the form of body parts such as an eye, leg or arm out of silver or less precious metals.  I’ve been told that in some parts of the world they are much larger and made from wax.  The ex-votos at the Biennale, made from papier-mâché, originally painted and numbering over 5,000, were collected over many years (1600-1900) from the Santuario di Romituzzo in Sienna, Italy.

James Castle, born deaf in 1899, expressed himself entirely in art, never learning to communicate with any form of sign language.  He was born in Idaho and lived his entire life there.  His artist materials were all forms of paper and packaging, some donated by his postmaster parents in the form of discarded mail.  He produced constructions of paper and handmade books.  For the birds, he sewed strips of paper and attached them to the bodies with thread or twine.

Interested in customs of dress, Phyllis Galembo (born 1952, New York) has done large scale portraits of people in ceremonial garb.  This work was inspired by the actions of two men from Ghana, Janka Abraham and A.K. Yamoah, called the “Nobles,” who put on their own masquerades in the 1920’s, mimicking festivals held earlier by the Dutch and British traders.  While the characters portrayed were usually of local figures, the masks were European and they even used Halloween costumes.

Don’t know what to do with all the odds and ends in your studio?  Trimmings, buttons, odd pieces of wallpaper, buttons?  Check out Enrico Baj’s (1924-2003) work.  Baj rebelled against the conformity he saw in the 1950’s in art and politics and instead worked more in the Expressionist style of André Breton and Max Ernst.  HIs Dame series, begun in the 1960’s, comprised collage and assemblage portraits of women in forms alluding to puppets which he also actually made.

In addition to the main exhibition hall at the Giardini, there were also many pavilions representing different countries.  Throughout the Biennale were several exhibits of works carved from books.  In the South African pavilion, were sculptures by Wim Botha of heads and a whole body, completely carved from books. For other sculptures he has used stacked newspapers and prison release papers.