Artist: Verónica Moar
Fechas: April 15th 2023 to May 16th 2023
Ere Dream – or Terror – had begun to glean
its web of myth and broad cosmogony,
ere Time had settled unto days,
the Sea – the ever Sea – existed and had been. (translated by Paul Abucean)
The sea
JORGE LUIS BORGES
The sea is calm, perhaps because it is conscious of the upcoming journey, perhaps because it is a native sea, which feels a sense of kinship with the rocks and the city whose shores it laps. It is said that the only way to get to know (or rediscover) a space is to explore it ourselves. Only then will we be able to understand the meaning of reflections, hold on to each of the strands we encounter with the necessary strength, internalise the rhythms of the outward and return journeys.
El siempre mar (The ever sea) is an exhibition that proposes a journey through these distinctly Atlantic territories, acting as a gateway to the forgotten. It draws attention to latent stories, speaks of tradition and distils landscapes through the conscious modelling of pieces that reflect these ideas. In the workshop, creation arises out of reading a historical document, exploring the environment or the performative nature of the creative process. Specifically, here Verónica Moar is unfolding a project that takes as its starting point her attentive observation of the spaces that surround her and seeks to redefine them.
The works selected for this solo exhibition at the PONCE + ROBLES gallery are made up of a series of fragments that beg the viewer to study them in detail. Some of these fragments remind us of certain shapes – a constant presence in the daily lives of sea-faring folk – which find transcendence through their materialisation in porcelain, becoming the storage medium for content that makes multiple narratives visible. Other fragments pose questions, search for enigma or transform nature itself by remodelling its possibilities and exploring its materials.
In short, here the sea is represented forcefully within four walls, in such a way that we can’t stop staring at it and asking ourselves: “Who is the Sea? Who is the old tormentor / who has for ages sapped the earthly shore, / and who at once is one and countless more, / and randomness and storm and fall and splendour?” (The Sea, J.L. Borges, translation by Paul Abucean).
Ya estaba y era (It existed and had been)
Performance_15 april de 2023
Parallel to the opening of the exhibition, there will be a site-specific performance entitled ‘Ya estaba y era’ (‘It existed and had been’), in which the texture of time, the artist’s body and their relationship with the landscape will sketch out a line of argument around the sea, collective memory and the craft of fishing.
The evocative movements of the dance will serve to sound out the landscape through gestures. The material – porcelain – will move through the space, directing our gaze towards the smallest details and testing its very limits. The sea, finally, will end up returning to the coordinates it provides us with, knowing what it is due.
Verónica Moar Suárez, March 2023
Verónica Moar Suárez (A Coruña, 1978) is a ceramist with a degree in English Philology and a diploma in Artistic Ceramics from the Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño Pablo Picasso in A Coruña.
Based on her refined technique, hand-crafted pieces and careful selection of materials, Suárez’ work always has a poetic and narrative touch. On the other hand, her focus is on the recovery of memory and the unending search for the essentials, trying to avoid anything unnecessary or superfluous.
She has held solo exhibitions in institutions such as the Cuarto Pexigo space and the Fundación DIDAC and has taken part in national and international group exhibition projects at the Auditorio de Galicia, the Museo Gaiás, the Deputación da Coruña, the Centro da Cultura NORMAL, the Galería PONCE+ROBLES, the Porto Design Biennal and the Aveiro Ceramics Biennial.
Her work can be found in collections such as the Fundación DIDAC Foundation and the Deputación da Coruña. She has given lectures in cycles organised by the Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño Pablo Picasso in A Coruña and various educational conferences focused on artistic education. She has been recognised and given awards in competitions such as the Premio Artesanía de Galicia in 2015 and the XVI Certamen de Artes Plásticas Isaac Díaz Pardo. In addition, she has been awarded a grant for artistic creation by the Concello da Coruña and sponsored by the Fundación Pública Artesanía de Galicia to complete an artistic residency in Aichi, Japan.