Collecting Butterflies, 2013
wood and mixed media
25 1/2 x 8 x 6 inches; 64.8 x 20.3 x 15.2 centimeters
LSFA# 13021
Cecilia Miguez: Sound of a Thought
March 23 - May 11, 2013
Roses decorate the wooden torso of the pale queen. El Rey, her king, stands at her side, inclines his head and motions to a silent crowd. The tower, washed a bright candy apple red, keeps watch from afar. Pawns and knights, hands poised mid-gesture, train their golden eyes on a distant horizon. Magicians caught thinking before they speak? Or are they simply chess pieces in an elaborate imaginary game? What they might have seen or heard remain mysterious. But the charisma conjured by these figures is unmistakable.
As per usual with Miguez’ meticulously dreamed creations, each sculpture features found objects coupled with specifically crafted structural components: printing blocks serve as podium for a small bronze figure, a tin cake mold suggests a carefully pleated collar, a tiny salt spoon adorns the wooden front piece of a circular tower of Chinese boxes and rusted gears, a porcelain skinned figure sits cross-legged on a battered doll-sized chair. The combinations of bronze and wood, the patinas of gunmetal gold and ebony evoke the illusion of an object-generated light. Shadow and substance, fantasy and identity, are interwoven via the history of the ‘old’ object and the lively accomplishment of the artist’s invention.
Ms. Miguez’ work is included in numerous public and private collections. Louis Stern Fine Arts represents the artist exclusively.