The Baroque Persistence

Artist list

Valentina Garretón, Monoco (Monica Pérez), Paulina del Fierro, Gabriela Harsanyi, Caco Honorato, Massiel Muñoz, Cecilia Rocatagliata, Valeria Martínez, Rita Soto, Casa Kiro (Vania Ruiz), Paulina Latorre, Mónica Díaz-Pinto, Soledad Avila, Pamela de la Fuente, Pía Walker, Camilo Moreira, Natalia Saldías, Nicolás Hernández, Pilar Labra, Loreto Fernández, Mariela González, Marcela Bugueiro, Polín Fugón, Joyce Marín, Pascale Durandin, Ilonka Palocz, Carolina Méndez, Liliana Ojeda, Ana Nadjar, Carolina Hornauer

In the Latin American context, Baroque is not only the art period that happened between centuries XVII and SXVIII. Instead, it constitutes a mental space where it is possible to track the origins of our deeply mixed societies.

To establish a dialogue between contemporary jewelry and Chilean cultural heritage, the Joya Brava Association proposed a collective work where 30 artists, all members of Joya Brava, developed a series of pieces from their personal approaches to the Latin American Baroque Movement. The profound influence coming from Hispanic domination, once manifested in institutional contexts, has retreated to popular Chilean religious practices and culture, persisting among us until nowadays. This experience gives life to “The Baroque Persistence”.

This exhibition is a result of the gathering between Art Historians Rolando Baez and Emilio Vargas and Jewelry Designers, that confronting their views on diverse historical periods and art forms (by means of workshops, conferences and personal feedback), set out to develop their proposals, considering the interaction and the discussion that was generated in this creative space, in which theory and practice established an uncanny dialog.

Pieces were organized under 3 criteria: Body, soul and ornament.
Each work incorporates the guidelines of pictorial, religious and historic heritage of Baroque to create a personal interpretation on a particular aspect, resulting in an exhibition that brings together a series of crossbreed traditions from our continent, unveiling our own Contemporary Baroque-being.

Body
A fundamental baroque dimension is related with the body, which unfolds as the dimension of an earthly life, as a constant warning reminding us of our material nature. The body is the place containing the desire of reaching the afterlife (wounds, scars and blood). The body grounds our aspirations to reach heaven.

Soul
Along Western History, the soul has remained immaculate, being considered as one the greatest treasures of humanity, and it’s survival after death confers it a celestial status. Privations and torments to which bodies are exposed only have meaning if they make the soul stronger, releasing it from all worldly bonds.

Ornament
The ornament is generated as an annex of a main work, to enhance it. With Baroque this hierarchy is subverted, emphasizing ornament to the point that it turns into a main aspect, beyond the main work itself, blurring the boundaries between the essential and the decorative.