> For immediate release:
>
>
> What: "SHELLIFE" - An INDIVIDUAL exhibition by Regina Vater
>
> Where: Women & Their Work 700 Lavaca - Austin, Texas
>
> When: Thursday April 3
>
> Contact: http://www.womenandtheirwork.org
>
> "SHELLIFE"
> or Art as an Experience of Awareness
>
>
>
> "When creative art is truly inspired, it comes close to being
sacramental."
> Paul Brunton
>
> "A poem is a mystery; the reader must find the key." ("Un poeme est un
> mystere dont le lecteur doit chercher la clef.") Stephane Mallarme
>
> "Let the soul of man take the whole universe for its body." Simone Weil
>
>
> Since "Magi(o)cean", her very first installation, in 1970, to the present
> day, Brazilian born and Texas based artist Regina Vater has consistently
> developed an important, powerful, and impressive body of installation
works.
> She started her artistic career in the sixties at a very young age and was
> already an established artist in Brazil and abroad before moving to the
USA.
> Her art has a life of its own and is definitely not concerned with
> reproducing the past, applying any kind of aesthetic 'recipe' or 'formula'
> to present human and artistic issues, or trying to unveil the 'mystery' of
> these issues through any 'special effects' for the future. On the
contrary,
> Vater's art is a sincere celebration of the mystery of Space, Time, Life,
> Art, Poetry, and the related Human Myths and Cosmologies. And here resides
> her unique approach to Art as an integral experience of awareness.
>
> The pieces exhibited in the present show, "Shellife," are the most recent
> examples of this compelling life-long celebration. Affirming her reverence
> for life and nature, honoring the fruitful reflections of the human spirit
> and constructing works conducive to the appreciation of the beauty of
> creation, she accomplishes a sacred function ('sacred' being defined as
> 'participating in the divine creation,') in accordance to the hermeneutics
> of Art.
>
> These pieces, which could also be described as "awareness" pieces, or
> "metaphors of awareness," are created as a way to materialize what is
behind
> and beyond their physical and aesthetic presence or material
manifestation.
> Their ultimate goal is to offer the viewers a deep motivation to stimulate
> and raise their own state of consciousness, aesthetic latitude, and
> sensibility. Poignantly and concisely sharing with the viewer not only a
> 'finished object or artistic product,' but the (embodiment of) the process
> of her own philosophical concerns, existential reflections, as well as her
> perspectives on life, art, culture, poetry, and spirituality, Vater's
> ultimate interest is to create works that best express her soul,
fulfilling
> masterfully the definition of a work of art as given by Maurice Barres in
> his "Mes cahiers" (My notebooks): "A work of art is the medium of a soul"
> ("Une oeuvre d'art c'est le moyen d'une ame.")
>
> The installation "Shellife" is the main piece of the exhibit and extends
its
> title to the entire show. Like the other pieces, it overwhelms the viewer
by
> its conciseness, strength, meaningfulness, and beauty. The images and
> installations created by the artist reveal a surprising economy in terms
of
> the visual elements employed - real or depicted eggshells, a fossil shell,
> the image of an ear (or, rather, an 'acoustic shell',) stones, petals,
> different fabrics, and verses -, commonplace elements in our everyday
lives;
> yet the works created with these few and common elements have an extremely
> powerful presence, which in turn empowers the viewer's soul and his/her
> knowledge of the created things. They intelligently point to the fact that
> the sacred dwells precisely in the commonplace of our everyday lives, in
the
> simple things, in Nature.
>
> In "Shellife," the artist invokes the mystery of the primordial egg -
> genesis of the universe, symbol of life and the renewal of nature -
causing
> enchantment and amazement, and provoking a myriad of sensations,
> reflections, and meditations. The artist transforms the tangible reality
of
> the piece - a yellow fabric in the background evoking the oneness of the
egg
> yolk, a transparent screen composed of countless eggshells resembling the
> roof of heaven, and a white ceramic bowl containing the compact paste of
> life - making us see the unseen, creating a magical and timeless space
that
> leads us to an intangible meditation on the spirituality and the mystery
of
> life. We are transported from the material to the immaterial; from the
> visible to the invisible; from the Total Fragmentation to the Total Unity,
> where every single piece of shell or every verse disposed among the
objects
> contributes to mirror and enlighten the "unus mundus", the one world, the
> Uni-verse. As a Space and Time capsule, it is inside the space of the
> eggshell that time operates generating life, as a synthesis of the
duality,
> as a conciliation of the dichotomy. In a similar way, the use of the
> artistic force in metamorphosing the objects into a ritual of high art or
> high magic is a way for the artist to convey her own experience, share the
> many gifts she received, and also refine and renew her own investigations
> and state of consciousness.
>
> Vater condenses the myth of the primordial egg, present in so many
> cosmologies, in the 'paste' of life located inside the bowl, rendering
> homage to all cosmologies, and more specifically to the Yoruba goddess
> Oshun, that immigrated to the Americas with the African Diaspora. In
effect,
> during the Afro-American rituals, eggs are offered to Oshun and the yoke
> paste is considered to be the recipient of the Ashe, or the vital energy.
In
> previous installations, Vater has also made a striking and remarkable use
of
> food as the main artistic material of her work. Just to mention a few of
the
> most recent works where this occurs, the artist used rice, corn, and black
> beans in "Verve," a 1997 installation with the shape of a spiral mandala;
> nuts in the 1997 'God gives nuts to some who have no teeth" installation;
> honey in "The Inominable," a 1998/99 installation; and popcorn in
> "Amon/Amen," a 1999 installation. In this frequent and highly creative use
> of food as raw material for her installations, Vater has dignified both
the
> food, as a fundamental vehicle of life and the divinity, and art, as a
> supreme offering of spiritual nourishment.
>
> It is interesting to observe how Space and Time have always been a central
> and constant concern to Vater, in terms of her own personal investigations
> and work, leading her initially to research and study the myths of the
> Amazon, and then the other Brazilian and World cosmologies as well.
Through
> her work, the artist constantly reminds us of how much in need the
> contemporary world is of the knowledge contained in these cosmologies. To
> Vater, they are the real repositories of the ancient wisdom, an invaluable
> source that broadens the horizon of our souls. The knowledge transmitted
by
> these mythologies revealed to her the importance of a spiritual vision
where
> the human being is an integral part of nature, and not an external entity
> meant to subjugate it at his own will. So, from her concern with Time and
> Space, and her investigations of ancient mythologies and cosmologies,
Vater
> realized the urgency to incorporate ecology as one of her primary artistic
> concerns. In effect, to her credit, she was one of the first artists to
deal
> with the subject of ecology, having participated in the first major
> international event ever dedicated to the issue, the 1976 Venice Biennale.
>
> If the motif of the egg is also central to other pieces of the show:
"Cosmic
> Egg 1" (1980), "Cosmic Egg 2" (1980), and "Tempo or Time Folds" (1987),
and
> if these pieces also stress the artist's concern with Time and renewal,
they
> privilege, however, slightly different implications. Cosmic Egg 1 and 2
are
> prints representing an entire egg and a broken egg, respectively. The word
> TIME is written on the eggshell, revealing that for the artist the egg is
an
> image of the threshold of time, but also highlighting the need in our
> contemporary societies to verbalize the obvious, since we are quickly
losing
> the mythical signification of beings and things, and nowadays TIME seems
to
> have become essentially an artificial construct. Time Folds, on the other
> hand, introduces yet another enigmatic element: the coexistence of
different
> 'chronographies' or multiple times, in other words, how different spaces
(an
> eggshell and a fossil shell) become metaphors for different concepts of
> time, and how time leaves its marks on different spaces- which become, in
> turn, different metaphors for time.
>
> In "Milarepa," a print inspired by oriental scrolls, Vater uses the image
of
> an ear (or 'an acoustic shell') as the central feature, surrounded by
> selected fragments of poetry. Milarepa, a Tibetan poet/saint, was depicted
> with a hand pointing to the ear, as a sign that it was through perceiving
> the murmurs of Nature that he became enlightened. Here, Vater reaffirms
her
> belief in the sacredness of Nature, and she also emphasizes the importance
> of an acute Perception and Awareness to better perceive the "inner"
> manifestations of Art.
>
> In "Sentence or Lampiao" (Lamp or Lantern), a circle of nine lime stones
> illuminated by a central lamp composes the basis for the visual poetry
work.
> Over each stone, a piece of Plexiglas carries a word forming the following
> verse of the eleventh century Persian poet Hafiz:
>
> "WHAT WE SPEAK BECOMES THE HOUSE WE LIVE IN"
>
> Besides revealing the importance of Poetry in Vater's work, this
> installation, like other works created by the artist, reminds us of the
> symbolic importance of stones in every religion and cosmology. In other
> installations, Vater has already used stones as the main visual element of
> the piece. For example, in the 1993-95 "ITA-OTA" installation ('ita'
meaning
> 'stone" in the Tupi-Guarani language of the native Brazilians, and 'ota'
> also meaning 'stone,' in the African Yoruba language.) In that
installation,
> Vater spoke directly about the sacredness of stones in all cosmologies,
and
> wrote:
>
> I PLACE IN YOUR HAND
> A STONE
> A SANDY GRAIN
>
> AND MY OWN HANDS
> ALL COMING FROM THE STARS
>
> Therefore, every stone, as every word emitted by human creatures should
> generate appreciation, reverence, renewal, and love for our entire planet,
> because we are literally the houses we live in.
>
> The artist - in the piece titled "Tope," meaning 'shrine,' in Tibetan -
> expresses and avows the hope for this high state of awareness. Inspired by
> the aesthetics of Eastern religions, a cascade of dry petals falls in a
> golden bowl, which is full of fresh rose petals of the same color,
> suggesting grace, miracle, and renewal. The piece is like an abstract and
> intense Annunciation, an incitement to emulate the attitude of wonder of
the
> philosopher (lover of wisdom,) letting the flower(s) blossom within
oneself,
> in our existence of mirrors and containers for the whole universe.
>
> According to Regina Vater's very words: "My work has to do with ideas,
with
> poetry and with a shamanistic approach to art. For me, any artwork, even
in
> an unconscious way, is a form of reaching out to the creative and
> regenerative forces of the universe."
>
> As one of the many admirers of her work, I can only conclude by saying
that
> in the middle of so much 'terminal art' and 'terminator attitudes,' Vater
> has my deepest gratitude for sharing her provoking insights, and the gifts
> she was given, contributing to an Art that grabs us for its power of
organic
> inclusion to the web of life."
>
>
> Mario S. Mieli
> New York, Spring 2003
>
>
>
> Regina Vater, who last year designed and curated the remarkable show
> "Brazilian Visual Poetry" for Mexic-Arte Museum, which received a six
page
> color feature story in "Art In America" magazine , has lived in Austin
since
> 1985.
>
> She is the winner of important national and international art prizes and
> has works in many international collections including the Austin Museum
of
> Art and the San Antonio Museum of Arts .
>
> Photography, digital art, video, visual poetry, installations, artist's
> books and graphic design are among the media Ms. Vater has employed
> throughout her career.
>
>
>
> This show was made possible in part by contributions in kind from:Jane &
> Hank Ellison - Balcones Frame Supply, Inc., HEB, Laird Plastics, The
Shangai
> Collection and a small grant from Brazil Center, Teresa Lozano Long -
> Institute of Latin American Studies - University of Texas at Austin
>

Hello ,

There is a brazilian end of year message to all of you !

http://www.arteonline.arq.br

Best wishes,

Regina

Chers amis,

Il y a une message de Noel bresilienne pour vous:

http://www.arteonline.arq,br

Merci pour votre attention ,

Regina

Prezados amigos,

Se quiserem ver minha mensagem de final de ano, naveguem ate:

http://www.arteonline.arq.br

Um beijo,

Regina

Hello,

You know that Reiner Strasser and I created and opened this new gallery. In=
the attic we are exhibiting the old computers we have used to create web, =
net.art and digital art and some of the creations made with those machines.=
These "avatars" of old equipment and works made with them are not just "co=
ol memories." They are also a way of ethnographically and humorously sugges=
ting that we should start to think about the preservation of this kind of v=
irtual culture. The attic gallery opened in September 2002 and is now home =
to the following artists:

Agricola of Cologne (Germany),
Alexandre Venera (Brazil),
Ana Maria Uribe (Argentina),
Barry Smylie (Canada),
David Daniels (USA),
Duc Thuan (Vietnam),
Komninos Zervos (Australia),
NEW Old Work in the Attic: Millie Niss (USA),
Muriel Frega (Argentina),
NEW Old Work in the Attic: Phillipe Castellin ( France),
Reiner Strasser (Germany)
and Regina Celia Pinto (Brazil).

The ATTIC is almost full, only four spaces are available now !

If you want to browser The Attic, the adress is:

http://www.arteonline.arq.br/museu/attic/introattic.htm

Best,

Regina

The project of the Museum of the Essential and Beyond That ( http://www.art=
eonline.arq.br ) consists of the creation of virtual architectures: a muse=
um with its libraries and galleries that have no brick-and-mortar counterpa=
rts. It is common for real museums and libraries to have websites, but the =
process underway in our "museum" is rather uncommon. A museum that does not=
exist in the real world, and whose architecture and collections are formed=
by a string of digits: 01010101. Is it just an electronic clearinghouse fo=
r bits and bytes?

Cyberspace can eliminate distances between its occupants, although it is me=
rely canceling out a symbolic distance through digital communication. What =
does cyberspace look like? What does a museum with all its galleries and li=
braries look like out in cyberspace? A "cyber-museum" is a spatial-temporal=
shape built up through movement: transportation and communication. During =
the process of creating a virtual museum, we cannot overlook the paths peop=
le follow through information and that this must be a place where informati=
on is shared intensively by all its visitors and participants.

The museum started out as a "work in progress": so is it architecture of in=
formation? But it is also an imaginary two-story pixel-building with a base=
ment. The building's architectural design can be changed at any time, wheth=
er by constructing another story or changing part of its shape - a Niemeyer=
design [6], constellation, space station, Piranesi engraving [7]: creative=
interface?. This museum was conceived as an open structure in which inform=
ation is spread out in a number of spaces; a machine that can travel infini=
tely in all directions.

Everything is always perfect in the virtual cities found on the Internet, b=
ut the Museum's space does not work that way. Instead, its operations aim a=
t fulfilling the dictates of the principle of reality. For example, tragedy=
and its esthetic or things we really do not want to think about, have been=
shifted (with a touch of morbid humor) to the basement. Bit by bit, we int=
end to place some problems in the Museum building, because we do not intent=
it to become an aseptic parody of a real museum. We predict the need to re=
store this cultural machine once it has become the victim of its own succes=
s and the enormous number of visitors it attracts. Every once in a while, a=
room or gallery could be shut down for repairs. The Museum's order could a=
lso be disturbed by power struggles involving both political power and that=
of feudal corporations, so common in institutions of this kind.

The fact is that this project, justifying the beyond that in its name, is f=
ast becoming a cultural center where a mouse click offers both a museum and=
a place for creation and communication where the visual arts are joined by=
music, filmmaking (animation), poetry, books and audiovisual research. "Th=
is characteristic is related to the aim of modern-day art, which is to embo=
dy in its works certain new forms of beauty that could only emerge through =
the reconvergence of all techniques" [8] and technologies... Since its ince=
ption, at the Museum of the Essential and Beyond That, this reconvergence h=
as been present in its watchwords: communication, information, multidiscipl=
inarity, multiculturalism and mobility. Science and technology embracing ar=
t to protect it and give it the necessary conditions for life and growth.

While browsering the museum do not forget to press the button NEWS. Maybe =
you want to participate of the Project ATTIC.

Thanks for your kind attention,

Regina Celia Pinto