Time After Diamonds, September 12th at 6:00pm

Naia del Castillo Presents: Time After Diamonds, September 12th at 6:00pm
Please join us on September 12th as we host Naia del Castillo at the DeSantos Gallery.

Image Gallery & Bio

About the exhibition
The title Time after Diamonds refers at two series of works I have been working since late 2007 till now. The 8 photographs and the video screening are a selection from the series Offerings and Possessions and The Passage of Time.

Offerings and Possessions conceals about our desire to posses even material things or even people. As it usual in Del Castillo’s works, the reversible action of the reflection appears as looking for ”equilibrium.” In this case, the success of possession depends on the offer by oneself.

The Magpie, a woman completely covered by sea of pearls, a dress made of 12,000 pearls; in the photo a magpie invigilate the reclined woman.

The Anthill, photograph of a woman holding one bronze piece made by Del Castillo, in the shape of the anthill or respectively a human organ. The golden shine is the feeling of desperate desire that reminds us the tale of the Midas king.

The Garden, a woman blinded by a mirrored silver sheet, that reflects the photograph that she holds above her that reveal complicated state between what is shown as artificial and natural flowers, with the hands caught in the act of taking away the flowers while the same time it appear it is taking away body of the woman at the same time.

The Bed, a photograph is the key that links the evolution from the worry about materiality to the worry of eternity.

Del Castillo has built for this photograph, 33 ceramic skulls with golden glazed. Each of the crane shell is removed and filled red velvet cushion, making one bed once you have all of them together. The woman in the photograph is sleeping on top of this bed. As it happened with the ancient tribes that they gain the cranes of their enemies to preserve their powers, this woman sleeps on top of the cranes, that even they are not real ones; they give us the idea of death. She sleeps on top of one Vanitas as if the time doesn’t affect her.

Recorridos, a photograph made of various collages of maps where the artist has resided the last 10 years due to her art practice. One red line links all these places. This red line is actually one sculpture made by her that is one red layered cooper stair that runs around one wooden broom connected to a wooden dustpan.

In transit, a photograph taken directly inside one elevator, where one girl is levitating and the only part that connects her to the floor is her hair that is linked to a sand clock situated on the floor of the elevator.

Matryoshka is a work consists both an installation and a performance, breaking the boundaries between disciplines in art of theatre, visual art and music concerts.

The original idea was directed and created by Naia del Castillo, where she served producer, artistic director for the project and creator for all the visual elements of the piece, photographs, scenery, objects…

In collaboration with vocalist and performer Gunnlaug Thorvaldsdottir, who brought life to Matryoshka through her unique voice and performance.

Matryoshka emerges from an eternal circular movement; expresses life cycle of unstoppable fertility channeled this motion by a large powerful doll while act of defiance expresses in form of shelter, are concealed with half of the body hidden by hairs. Her feet are anchored and frozen however from her ankle to head is unrestraint and free for movement. The layered of different dresses bound her as she slowly releases and undresses like a Matryoshka doll, while the music and voice accompany this transition of unfolding. In a continuous destruction and reconstruction, we trespass the boundaries of concealment, growth, fullness, death and renaissance.

This exhibition is organized as part of the “La noche de Luna Llena festival” with the support of the The Museum of Contemporary Art Esteban Vicente in Segovia and Segovia 2016.