{"id":13216,"date":"2024-01-25T09:50:50","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T08:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.galerie-slavik.com\/en\/2024\/01\/25\/baeume-fuer-das-fest-des-lebens\/"},"modified":"2024-05-23T13:54:20","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T11:54:20","slug":"baeume-fuer-das-fest-des-lebens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.galerie-slavik.com\/en\/2024\/01\/25\/baeume-fuer-das-fest-des-lebens\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees for the festival of life"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”13174″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]Joaquim Capdevila, brooch “tree”, gold, wood, acrylic colour.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”13175″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Madola, collage “Els crits de les fulles – the cry of the leaves”, paper, colour.<\/p>\n

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3 X 80 \u2013 and an ode to the tree as the source of life <\/b><\/span>
\n<\/span>The Vienna gallerist Renate Slavik is mounting an exhibition devoted to the Catalonian artists Joaquim Capdevila and Madola \u2013 <\/i><\/span>celebrating <\/i><\/span>their three round birthdays.<\/i><\/span>
\n<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

Whether depicted in colour brushstrokes on paper or in gold combined with other materials such as wood, clay or porcelain that recall the earth in which it takes root: <\/span><\/span>the tree is the protagonist<\/b><\/span><\/span>. Like a leitmotif, trees constantly reappear in the selection of works by the jewellery artist Joaquim Capdevila and the collages created specially for this exhibition by his long-standing <\/span><\/span>artistic collaborator <\/span><\/span>Madola.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The power of expression characteristic of Madola\u2019<\/a>s ceramic oeuvre is also in evidence in her works in painted and glued paper, in which she contrasts the rough, fraying texture of torn edges with energetic and consciously synthetic brushstrokes. Madola plays with the colours of the earth, of tree trunks and of branches, often with a touch of the vibrant blue typical of her work, so distinctive that one could call it \u2018Madola Blue\u2019. The trees thus created have individual personalities and names of their own, which like captions or thoughts combine to give this series its overall meaning: \u2018The Song of the Leaves\u2019, \u2018The Tree of the Poets\u2019, \u2018The Essence of Trees\u2019 or \u2018The Wind\u2019s Caress\u2019 \u2013 making a grove rich in poetic feeling.<\/p>\n

Joaquim Capdevila<\/a>\u2019s works \u2013 jewellery trees or tree jewellery, as you like \u2013 have been created out of memories of his youth, when he went walking through the woods and meadows of the Catalonian Pyrenees in the richly fertile region of La Cerdanya. The emotions evoked by this tree-dominated landscape have taken form in a collection of brooches in which gold is omnipresent. The archaic character of the precious metal is reflected in a rough surface that still bears the marks of the fire. Whether homogeneous or uneven, almost Baroque, this surface gives the brooches a noble shine and warmth. In addition, a number of other materials play their part: various woods, white porcelain, chamotte, and the exquisite Urushi lacquer of Japan. In all this, Capdevila strives for the greatest possible simplicity: every piece of his art jewellery is a page in his book of experience, and every brooch bears within it a little piece of real life.<\/p>\n

Renate Slavik\u2019s close and warm-hearted relationship with Joaquim Capdevila and Madola dates from the early years of the gallery, which has hosted numerous exhibitions of Catalonian jewellery art from the early 1990s onwards. Again and again, Capdevila has drawn inspiration for his works from very personal life experiences. In 2004 he marked two sixtieth birthdays \u2013 his own and Renate Slavik\u2019s \u2013 with sixty \u2018Goblets for a Celebration of Life\u2019, which were shown at the gallery in Vienna. In 2024, they are not the only ones turning 80 \u2013 Madola is too. Which is good reason to celebrate with a shared exhibition centring on the tree as a symbol for being rooted in our memories of the past and for growing positively into an uncertain future.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner]