Martha Rodriguez (1956) - Visage de femme

Description of the work: Original sculpture by Martha Rodriguez (born 1956), Franco-Venezuelan artist living in France since 1980 and working in Nogent-sur-Marne. Probably realized in the second half of the 1990s, this glass sculpture on a granite base depicts a female profile in side view, whose features appear within the thickness, cuts and transparencies of the glass. The composition rests on the contrast between two materials: on one hand, the mineral mass, opaque and deliberately raw in the granite; on the other, the transparency of the glass, worked in thickness and following irregular contours. Depending on the viewing angle and lighting, the female profile appears with more or less clarity. The edges of the glass catch and refract light, giving the sculpture a changing appearance. This use of glass is particularly representative of the research conducted by Martha Rodriguez during this period. The artist explains she began working with glass from 1995, in a plastic exploration around transparency, light and space. A documentation from the Vasarely Foundation also mentions her use of wood, stone, iron as well as hammered and crushed glass, in a search on “transparency and shadows.” The work is signed directly in the glass, on the edge of the sculpture, at the level of the chin of the face. The irregularities visible along the glass contours contribute to the plastic treatment of the sculpture and its interaction with light. Dimensions with base: 27 × 16 × 10 cm Weight: approximately 4.3 kg. Provenance: Former Denise Guillet collection (1938-2025), Nogent-sur-Marne. The work was kept in Denise Guillet’s private collection until her death in 2025, before joining the current private collection. About Martha Rodriguez: Martha Rodriguez is a Franco-Venezuelan artist born in Caracas in 1956. After studying graphic arts at the Newman Institute of Design in Caracas and further training in Paris, she gradually moves from graphic design to plastic expression. Based in France since 1980, she works in Nogent-sur-Marne. Painter, sculptor, etcher and multimedia artist, she develops a research around transparency, emptiness, volume, light and space occupation. Glass plays an important role in this research, alongside wood, stone, metal, paper and other materials. A publication devoted to the artist notes that she began working with glass around 1995. It explains that she seeks transparency and the effects produced by light and air. Around 2010, her work evolved toward other materials and larger-scale sculptures intended notably for public spaces. Her work has been the subject of numerous exhibitions in France and abroad. The Museum of Geometric and MADI Art notably mentions more than 50 group exhibitions since 1991, in France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Hungary, Spain, Egypt, Venezuela and the United States. In 2011, Martha Rodriguez received the first prize at the Guadalajara Biennale of Sculpture, in Mexico, for her work Rebozos.

Stima:500€

Vedi tutti gli oggetti diCatawikioArte Contemporanea