Clare Goodwin
Ceramic Whispers, Include, Conclude, 2022
Approx. 260 individual hand-cut and glazed ceramic “whispers”, ca. 220 x 510 cm
Untitled, Object Furniture (10 stools), 2023
Handpainted stool, acrylic on birch plywood, 47 x 45 x 36 cm
Courtesy of the artist and Lullin + Ferrari, Zurich
Supported by Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia
In the spacious annex of the church of St. Barbara in Raša, British artist Clare Goodwin (*1973) deals with an icon of art history: Guernica, the monumental painting that Pablo Picasso painted in 1937 as a reaction and commentary on the fascist bombing of the Basque town and exhibited for the first time at the World’s Fair in Paris in the same year. Picasso said at the time: “I am convinced that an artist who lives and deals with spiritual values cannot be indifferent in the face of a conflict in which the highest values of humanity and civilisation are at stake.” The blending of the source of the image (Picasso) and the spatial context (Raša), both created in 1937, is striking and is further reinforced by the architectural framing in the style of Italian Rationalism. War, destruction, politics, beauty, art and painting discourse overlap in the pavilion annex of the church to form an impressive “memento mori”. Goodwin’s wall relief adapts Picasso’s original grey colour palette and abstracts the war atrocities he depicted into some 260 ceramic elements. Complementing the relief, the artist has developed ten specially designed and hand painted stools for the pavilion that invite visitors to stay and contemplate.
Clare Goodwin Ceramic Whispers, Include, Conclude, 2022. Installation view showing ceramic tiles and stools. Photo by Jules Spinatsch.
U prostranom aneksu crkve svete Barbare u Raši britanska umjetnica Clare Goodwin (*1973.) bavi se ikonom povijesti umjetnosti: “Guernicom”, monumentalnom slikom koju je Pablo Picasso naslikao 1937. kao reakciju i komentar na fašističko bombardiranje baskijskog grada i prvi je put izložio na Svjetskoj izložbi u Parizu iste godine. Picasso je tada rekao: “Uvjeren sam da umjetnik koji živi i bavi se duhovnim vrijednostima ne može biti ravnodušan suočen sa sukobom u kojem su na kocki najviše vrijednosti čovječanstva i civilizacije.” Upečatljiv spoj izvora slike (Picasso) i prostornog konteksta (Raša), oboje nastalih 1937. godine, dodatno je pojačan arhitektonskim okvirom u stilu talijanskog racionalizma. Rat, razaranje, politika, ljepota, umjetnost i slikarski diskurs preklapaju se u paviljonskom aneksu crkve tvoreći impresivan “memento mori”. Goodwinin zidni reljef prilagođava Picassovu izvornu paletu sivih boja te sažima ratne zločine koje je on opisao u 260 keramičkih elemenata. Nadopunjujući se na reljef, umjetnica je izradila 10 posebno dizajniranih i ručno oslikanih stolica, koje pozivaju posjetitelje da ostanu i razmišljaju.