Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre by Tere Chad

About the work
Date of completion:
5 September 2022
Edition type:
Unique work
Classification:
Installation
Medium:
1 Ceramic, 3 Mosaic, 1 Floating shelf with rotating display
Dimensions:
150×170 cm
Copyright:
Copyright © 2022 Tere Chad
License:
All Rights Reserved.

Provenance records
  • 06 Sep 2022 Certification
    A certificate has been issued for the artwork
  • 06 Sep 2022 Verification
    The owner has verified the artwork record data.
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Artist statement:
Human inconsistencies have always intrigued me. It fascinates me how man is the only sentient being capable of studying his inconsistencies My multidisciplinary practice is inspired by our everchanging reality. I go through life as a flaneur, trying to understand human behaviour and which paradigms rule our society. I tend to expose and contrast past civilisations with current phenomena in a theatrical way. I often feel that we are all acting in the same play as, however much fashion and technology may change, human nature always remains the same. Storytelling becomes an essential part of how I construct different narratives, where the language could be defined as naïve, dynamic and ironic. I attempt to manifest how technology is presented as a double-edged sword, on the one hand offering considerable ease and convenience but, on the other, alienating us from our natural instincts. In this spectacular society, driven by media sensationalism, we live in an ephemeral, disconnected state where we have difficulty distinguishing reality from virtual reality or fake news. I strongly believe, therefore, that it is of fundamental importance to reassess our haptic sensitivity and capacity to connect through our sense of touch. My artwork is very tactile, involving at times the collaboration of other artists or the viewer, as I envisage that the only path forward if we are to face the Anthropocene challenge is to root ourselves back in the Earth.
Additional observations:
Description: The piece takes the form of a syncretic icon, which represents both the Christian Virgin Mary and Òşhun, an orisha (goddess) from the African Yoruba culture, which was brought to Cuba by slaves who continued to revere her through the centuries, despite the colonial imposition of Christianity. As was common in Afro-Latino culture, Christian saints and Yoruba orishas became syncretised, with particular saints becoming linked with particular orishas. Cuban legend has it that in 1612 three boys (all called John and known as the “tres Juanes”) were in a boat in Nipe Bay, Eastern Cuba when a storm blew up. They prayed that they would be saved; suddenly the storm subsided and they saw a statue of Our Lady of Charity appear in the sea. They took the statue back to the local town, where it was installed in a small chapel. It was moved several times before its final resting place in the Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre in the hills outside the town of El Cobre. Òşhun is associated with fertility, rivers, beauty and love, and yellow/gold are her colours. Both Our Lady of Charity and Òşhun are protectors of those about to give birth. The piece has been commissioned by Paladar Restaurant. The installation is composed by three pieces of mosaic and a main ceramic figure. The main ceramic figure includes gold pigment. The creative process involved assessment from the London School of Mosaic and Chris Bramble Ceramics Studios. The floating shelf with rotating display was made by the furniture maker Andy Jacobs. Installation dimension: Variable Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre (Ceramic) dimension: Height 50cm x Diameter 34cm Sea and 3 Juanes (Mosaic 1) dimension: Width 130cm x Height 43cm x Depth 3cm Half-moon (Mosaic 2) dimension: Width 78cm x Height 35cm x Depth 3cm Clouds & Angels (Mosaic 3) dimension: Width 45cm x Height 41cm x Depth 4cm Oak Wood Shelf: Base: Width 45cm x Height 4cm x Depth 45cm; Floating shelf with rotating display: Height 2cm x Diameter 40cm; Pole: Width 3cm x Height 25cm x Depth 3cm
... Tere Chad

Biography: Artist and creative inventor based in London. Through her mixed media practice, she exposes how touch screen technologies detaches us from our tactile instincts and empowers the society of the spectacle. She attempts to invite to find a healthy balance between reassessing haptic sensitivity and approaching new technologies. Co-Founder of Latinos Creative Society from the University of the Arts London. This Society arises by the need of demystifying the pejorative that might exist against Latin Americans, and in opposition presents Latin Americans as the new creative direction of innovation. She has done 4 solo exhibitions and participated in more than 15 collectives shows in 4 different continents, highlighting: Hanga Roa – Easter Island, Santiago – Chile (Museo de Artes Decorativas), London – UK (Tate Modern – Tate Exchange, Royal Society, Gordon Museum), Leeds – UK (Central Library), Barcelona & Almeria – Spain, Bucharest – Romania, Massachusetts – USA, Chengdu – China (Sichuan University Art Museum). Currently graduated from MA Art and Science at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London; has been offered a place at MA Sculpture at the Royal College of Arts, London. Human inconsistencies have always intrigued her. Nonetheless, she finds fascinating how man is the only being capable of studying his inconsistencies. Hence technology is presented as a double-edged sword where on the one hand offers many facilities, but on the other, detaches us from our natural instincts. Her research has been focussed in touch screen technology impacts on mental health, embodiment, and social behaviour, as well as its repercussion on the empowerment of the Society of the Spectacle. Through a sociological and anthropological approach, contrasting past civilisations with the contemporary scenario, she creates mixed-media artworks. Lately has been applying ethnographic techniques in a flâneur act in London’s Metro. Challenging traditional conceptions by transforming a ‘scientific research’ into pieces of arts with performative potential. Her artworks appear as a naïve critic to the emptiness of joyfulness of our consumerist society. Through materiality she both tries to reassess handcrafts and also push the boundaries among binary conceptions: research and material, crafts and technology, humanity and virtual intelligence. Pursuing to find the balance between reassessing haptic sensitivity and approaching new technologies. Therefore attempting to give transversal messages that impact over society and offer poetic solutions to face the Anthropocene.