Berta Blanca T. Ivanow, a sculptor and cinematographer, channels her passion for expression into bold, embryonic structures crafted from stoneware clay. Mentored at The Art Students League in New York, her work emphasizes the corporeal into sculpture. Executed in Ivanow’s studio nestled in the Catalonia countryside, her sculptural works not only showcases her connection to nature through the use of organic materials but also underscores her reverence for them. In her practice, elements of earth, fire, water, air and body coexist without a discernible hierarchy, creating a harmonious juxtaposition. 

“I am in an endless search to uncover what lies beneath that repetitive shape. These pure lines, drawn in space, support the clay bodies. Now, decomposed matter reveals a rusted steel and paper skeleton that simplifies the density of earth to its truthful inner soul. I call them ‘Metamorphic Seeds’ because your eyes will conclude their volatile form.

The sculptures connect with primitive memories of a previous touch. When transforming their shape in the present, I alter the sculpture’s history. Perhaps there is no such thing as time. Creation must be a shared dance, where no main characters exist.”

Liang-Jung Chen, based in London, is an artist and researcher working across drawing, object, installation, and performance. Her practice is informed by material culture in anthropological study, leading her to investigate the usage, consumption, creation, and trade of artifacts, as well as the behaviors, norms, and rituals associated with these. Intrigued by tensions embedded in everyday scenarios, each series of her work scrutinizes a specific interaction between a daily object and its user. She holds the position of an associate lecturer at Chelsea College of Arts.

“As a material nerd, I delved into wax experimentation, captivated by its remarkable versatility. Wax transforms like water when hot, feels pliable as clay when warm, hardens like a rock when cooled, and turns as brittle as glass when thin. When crafted into a candle, it vanishes into the air, leaving no trace.”

Liang-Jung Chen’s bespoke light installation exists only for the duration of the night of the exhibit. It embodies the artist’s time and energy spent on refining the technique of making candle strips tangled in a hoop of 2 meters in diameter over a non-stop week, here in Barcelona. It marks the artist’s intrigue into her continued venture into creating work that won’t be retained, providing a sense of immense liberation. Chen invites the audience to celebrate the collective effort invested in everyday life and to embrace the transience of existence.