àngels viladomiu

Small models /Mixed materials, ceramic pots, trees for layout.

 

 

 

Small landscapes that in their dimensional impossibility do not seek to become a model, on the contrary, they reclaim their status as a pocket piece, and their minuscule scale makes them operable, transportable, and finally domesticates them. Similar to the condition of the Bonsai, what differentiates them is their marked artificiality, they do not require care, and they are situated upon the emptiness of the wall developing their scenic sense, small fragments of the landscape.

Some of these small format pieces seem to become articulated through their conceptual formalization as models of natural scale projects – tree size - for the public space.

The synthetic aspect of these works is produced through the strategy of their reduction, that we could say is heir to the ancient Chinese tradition of miniature landscapes, also called tiny gardens, where the basic materials are trees and pots. This is a variant of traditional urban gardens that are born out of the need to take home a symbol of the ideal life.

In Bosc (Forest), 1993, in a twin pot grows a miniature fir forest that speaks to us, not only of domesticated nature, but also, because of its container, about a genetic manipulation by means of the help of science. In Llac, (Lake), 1993, two pots are attached at their base and the image unfolds on the vertical axis, as if it were a mirage where the two forests become reversible. A subtle nuance differentiates them in their focus; the presence of the seasons.

However, the peculiar part of these diminished gardens is the aspect of borrowing that they produce, since they usurp a fragment of reality and are inspired by a bucolic panorama. Although this deals with a small piece of nordic fir forest, it is with difficulty that we would be able to tame it within our urban households. However, these images are in themselves a metaphor for preservation, indeed, a kind of nomadic and portable conservation.