LUNA PAIVA
Luna Paiva’s practice focuses around objects that “were not born to be art, but had a nude life of their own.” Her subjects - mounted rocks, succulent plants and cacti - are both familiar, and species from wild realms. Like us, they are inhabitants of creation shaped by time. Playing with the the sacred layers of fetish present in contemporary art, her objects speak of life that preexisted the human eye, and of ancient traditions —where casting gold embodied a sacred anima. In Paiva’s words, her sculptures are “Ready-mades of nature gilded for profane adoration.”
Luna Paiva was born in Paris in 1980. She studied Art History and Archeology at La Sorbonne and studied film at NYU. Her artistic mediums are sculpture, installation and photography, her work has been shown in exhibitions in Latin America, Europe and the United States. She was awarded with the second prize at Maurizio Cattelan's collaborative installation, Eternity 2018, Art Basel cities curated by Cecilia Alemani, Itaú Art Prize in 2013 and Buenos Aires Photo Petrobras Art Prize in 2011. Her work is part of the Museum of Modern Art Buenos Aires permanent collection.
YUCCA, 2016
Bronze
23.5”W x 53”T
“What do we enshrine?
And what do we forget, overlook, fail to see?…
I have worked for the past several years with the magic of medium and texture: what happens when the objects of our disregard — potted plants that rest unseen on a doorman’s desk, a cactus collecting dust—become the center of our attention? The luster and warmth of bronze literally recasts these artifacts of the everyday, and so a plastic garden chair suddenly becomes luminous and worthy. Stacked in a pile, these chairs acquire a sculptural dimension, as opposed to what’s left over or relegated to a corner. As they undergo a sea-change from plastic to fine metal, these chairs enshrine themselves within a world of value, though they continue to conjure the dingy material ingrained in our visual memory. As amalgams of what is most average and most unusual, this simple arrangement of table and chair is jarring and attractive, beautiful and perplexing.”
— Luna Paiva
Luna Paiva
”10 stacked chairs”, Bronze, 2018
“It’s the most beautiful artistic process. The fire, the transmutation of the material, the intensity, the danger, the skill it demands, the satisfaction when it all comes together. I also find it extremely attractive because of its reliance on real material, what we would call ‘noble material’ in Spanish. There’s also something thrilling about the medium’s volatility—the change in temperatures.”
“I’ve dabbled in art since I was born. My father was an artist, my mother an art dealer. I would always draw. In fact, my father made a 400-page book with all of my childhood drawings. When my father was cooking, I would paint on top of his paintings. Of course, he always noticed.”
— Luna Paiva
“Meet The Sculpture Artist Hermès Commissions On The Regular”, Coveteur
“And today I am pregnant of Athéna who will be born in May 2021 when the Mother exhibition will open…
I’m 41 and happy to be a mother that has been able to grow as my kids were growing… I acquired a sense of love, priorities and TIME. Managing, dealing and embracing time.”
— Luna Paiva