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International art
• 10 May 2007 •
NUMEROUS artists are attracted to southern Portugal hoping to make a living from their work. The consensus is that many should be classed as ‘hobby artists;’ painting plant pots, making collages from paper, fabric and broken tiles, or daubing canvases with colourful splashes.
It is a rare opportunity to see an exhibition of truly international talent by a living artist. At the forthcoming festival in Mértola (May 17-20) the remarkable work of Christiaan Zwanikken will be on display.
Brought up in Mértola by Dutch parents – the family own a Franciscan convent, converted into a home and gallery – Zwanikken developed a fascination with nature and the desire to bring the bones of dead animals to life.
Zwanikken is well recognised within the animated art scene. He has a worldwide following, exhibiting for instance in Tokyo in 1996, 1998 and 2001. He has had solo shows in places as diverse as Mexico and Taiwan, as well as many major European cities.
His greatest accolade was to be invited to create an installation for the Tinguely Museum in Switzerland; Jean Tinguely being the first to introduce machines into the field of fine art: he is the godfather and founder of techniques that combine imagination with mechanical equipment.
Computers, circuit boards and automatic switches enable many of Zwanikken’s figures to speak as well as move. His skills have been rewarded with commercial success being commissioned to build animated sculptures by multinational companies.
Art critic, Sacha Bronwasser has written enthusiastically about Zwanikken’s work commenting on one of several installations to be seen at the convent.
‘Reanimations – Knuckle Heads’ shows two stork skulls mounted on long metal rods, stretching out towards each other from opposite corners of the room. They rattle, sometimes seemingly engaged in a mating song, at other times in silly chit-chat or bickering away at each other.
Their bodies are absent but their long sweeping necks keep them in place and, despite the clicking of the switch mechanism, give their meticulously controlled movement an elegant cadenza. For more details about the festival in Mértola, visit www.conventomerto
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