|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
PRESS RELEASE
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jane Sauer Gallery is pleased to present meticulously crafted spiritual dwellings by Santa Fe artist Roberto (Bob) Cardinale. The places of worship in “Structures and Surfaces” demonstrate Cardinale’s love of ecclesiastical places and the passion involved in their creation. The structures are not meant to be exact replicas of the place but to share with the viewer both the essence of each location and admiration for the community that created the structures. Cardinale’s home library is abundant with over a hundred and fifty books illustrating religious architectture. His visual library is further enhanced by images and information derived from computer research. The use of a computer ends there. He travels extensively to experience directly potential sites. On his travels he sketches, takes numerous photos and buys books and pamphlets about the places that interest him. Sometimes he is inspired by a site that he cannot visit, or by a commission. The process is much the same for Cardinale. He gathers all of the knowledge he can and gradually becomes deeply involved with the architecture and circumstances surrounding the site. The community that built each structure is important to Cardinale as the building itself. Working primarily with sugar pine Cardinale begins working directly with the wood after a few preliminary sketches. He doesn’t work from plans, patterns, or measurements. The finished piece is not about an architectural reproduction in a smaller form but about the essence of a community coming together to create a meaningful and lasting representation of a jointly held belief system. Cardinale doesn’t advocate any particular religious belief. His interest is the majesty of the spiritual. He works to capture the music, the graceful forms, and the poetry of written words surrounding rituals. Each sculpture is usually constructed of hundreds of pieces carefully connected to suggest a particular sacred site. Cardinale trusts his hands and eyes to build. The soft organic colors assigned to each piece are mixed by the artist. They are applied layer after layer with sanding and rubbing between applications. Graphite is the final coat and it too is rubbed to reveal a soft luster only hinting at the mellow gray of the material.
Cardinale’s solo exhibits always express his love of New Mexico spiritual places. The “Loretto Chapel,” also known as, “Our Lady of Light,” is a complex piece consisting of hundreds of small elements carved out of sugar pine and joined by double and triple joints. Cardinale hasn’t used screws or nails for many years. This complex and magnificent sculptural form is worthy of the story of the “miraculous staircase.” The legend says that the church built, in 1878, was nearly completed when the nuns realized there was no access to the choir loft. After 9 days of prayer a carpenter, believed to be St. Joseph himself, appeared and built the “miraculous” staircase. This legend persists today even though the carpenter and wood used have been identified. “SAN JOSE DE LAS TRAMPAS TOWER” Another structure is “San Jose de las Trampas Tower” located in Las Trampas, NM. The construction was done and completely paid for by the villagers and completed in 1760. Cardinale states “It is striking because of its thick walls and elegant and yet powerful twin towers. The towers were capped by belfries designed by the noted Southwestern architect, John Gaw Meen.” Cardinale has taken the liberty to further elongate the towers, one of his favorite features, and to put in small windows and an entry door. This creates a more complete sculpture. The elongation is further emphasized by a pedestal built for the piece to contribute the perfect viewing point. The pedestal, made of the same materials as the tower, brilliantly extends the sense of reaching toward the heavens.
|
“MISSION SAN CARLOS BORROMEO DE CARMELO” An elegant collaboration between Roberto and his artist wife PJ Cardinale, is one of the most beautiful missions in all of California, “Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo.” Roberto says “it has a squat power and design solidity that make it a gem in the string of California missions.” The assemblage/collage inside the tall doors is by PJ Cardinale and contains scapulars (small square cloth pieces) to ward off evil, a fragment of a rosary, a set of eyes to watch over the faithful, and a large medallion of the Virgin of Guadalupe. “BASILICA SAN FRANCESCO DI ASSISI” Cardinale does not restrict his vision to New Mexico and the southwest. This show of 17 pieces contains seven pieces from various parts of the world. “Basilica San Francesco di Assisi,” Umbria, Italy is the burial place of St. Francis. Cardinale states “it was a joy and a challenge to devise a way to make the two rose windows and I worked to allow the pieces to show the age and feeling of the spirit of the times. There are approximately 400 separately cut and carved pieces and it took about a month or 90 hours to make.” “JERUSALEM, THE WAILING WALL” One of the most unique pieces in the exhibit is “Jerusalem, The Wailing Wall.” Presented as a fragment of a building, thought to be a remnant of the massive foundation of the original Temple of Solomon, it is as powerful as any entire building. Being faithful to this important site for Jewish prayer and pilgrimage, Cardinale has made tiny copies of Hebrew prayers and stuffed them in the cracks between the wall pieces. The stuffing of prayers into the cracks in the wall is an old and important custom to Jews coming to this sacred place. With each new body of work, Cardinale reaches deeper and more intensely into his own spiritual connections. No matter what the religious orientation of the viewer, he/she can absorb Cardinale’s passion for his work. It is easy to share the artist’s enthusiasm for these ancient structures which were built to bind a community and to act as a vehicle for something extending beyond daily existence. Whether a believer or not, the sculptural formations and rich colorations bring about a feeling of exhilaration and joy. |
||||||||
Note: To properly view this email click HERE or on Click Here button at the top |
|||||||||
