cristina cordóva and preludios y partidas contextualized...
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Cristina Cordóva and Preludios y Partidas Contextualized
Philip Davenport
University of South Carolina Upstate
March 24, 2013
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(Fig. 1) Artist Cristina Cordóva was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1976, but moved
with her Puerto Rican parents to the island when she was six months old. She was raised and
educated there and in 1999, upon receiving her B.A. at the Colegio de Agricultura y Artes
Mecanicas, she moved to the United States to pursue her M.F.A in Ceramics at Alfred University
in New York. (Fig. 2) In a close study of Cordóva’s ceramic sculpture Preludios y Partidas
(translating to Preludes and Games), this paper explains some of the artist’s influences, many of
which reference her cultural heritage. I will also connect her art to both theater and dance, which
the artist has also cited as important influences. Finally, throughout this paper I intend to
demonstrate that Cordóva’s art conveys her personal experience with metaphysical
contemplation and subsequently provides an invitation for the audience to do the same.
Though Cordóva has taken residence in the United States for well over a decade, she has
exhibited extensively in Puerto Rico and identifies strongly with her Puerto Rican roots.1
Because her art reflects her heritage, Puerto Rico’s rich and complex history must be briefly
described in order to grasp some reoccurring imagery in her work. Puerto Ricans define
themselves as “a homogenized Taínos, African, and Spanish mixture.”2 The island was first
inhabited by the indigenous Taínos people who identify themselves as “Amerindians,” present
on the island before Christopher Columbus’s arrival in 1493.3 The Spanish introduced
Catholicism to the Puerto Rican people and slavery as a means of working plantations. The slave
population introduced African culture to Puerto Rico.4 Among other influences the African
1 Cordóva, Cristina, Resume, online, accessed February 13, 2013, http://www.cristinacordova.com/resume.
2 Santiago-Irizarray,Vilma, "Puerto Rico," Countries and Their Cultures, Ed. Carol R. Ember and Melvin Ember,
Vol 3, New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001, 1814-1824. 3 Santiago-Irizarray, Vilma,“Puerto Rico,” Countries and Their Cultures.
4 Ibid.
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slaves brought brujería or voodoo religious practices.5 Another religion, filtered into Puerto Rico
via Cuban immigration, was santería. This involved a preexisting “blend of Yoruba and Catholic
religions,” which combined with European spiritualism already present on the island.6 “Both
posit a spirit world, worship a hierarchy of guiding saints and deities from the sacred and secular
worlds, and practice divination.”7 Thus, many Puerto Ricans exhibit a cultural blend of religions,
with many inhabitants participating in multiple forms of religion simultaneously.8
(Fig. 3a and Fig. 3b) During an interview I conducted with Cordóva she explained that
visual references appear in her work that derive from the various religious practices of Puerto
Rico.9 Specifically, she indicates the tradition of the santeros who carved small wooden
devotional figures dedicated to patron saints and other figures of the Catholic faith.10
In
Preludios y Partidas there is reference to these figurines in the use of the human form as an
object of spiritual meditation.
In another nod to her heritage, Cordóva urges the audience to “consider the use of
concrete and steel in the piece,” which are, “the main building materials in the island of Puerto
Rico (and most of the Caribbean) due to hurricanes.”11
Her use of materials references not only
the fortification of structures to enhance their safety, but also indicates the reality that many of
the island’s inhabitants face dire economic strain. Steel and concrete not only protect against the
elements—many people are forced to barricade their homes with steel bars to deter intruders.
5 Santiago-Irizarray, Vilma, Countries and Their Cultures.
6 Ibid.
7 Ibid.
8 Ibid.
9 Cristina Cordóva, email correspondence, March 5, 2013.
10 Carrión, Arturo Morales, A Special Voice: The Cultural Expression, in “Puerto Rico A Political and Cultural
History,” New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc (1983), 343. 11
Cristina Cordóva, email correspondence, March 5, 2013.
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When considering commonalities among Puerto Rican artists some scholars have asserted
that “the most powerful cultural symbol is the island itself.”12
Cordóva agrees with this concept
and says, “These metal and concrete faceted structures carry notions of individual confinement,
of meteoric microcosms or islands. Having grown up in an island, this last icon has always been
particularly resonant in my work.”13
In addition to referencing Puerto Rico’s socio-political
realities, the island can also be seen as a metaphor for interiority, functioning as still points for
the artist’s introspective journey. Cordóva expands upon this notion, explaining the Jungian
concept of the island as, “a refuge from the menacing assault of the sea of the unconscious…. It
is a place for beginnings and transitions, isolation and introspective solitude.”14
Thus, the artist
uses the “island” not only as a literal reference to her homeland, but also as an emblem of
existential isolation and as a reference to individual subconscious. With Cordóva’s main
emphasis being introspective contemplation, she must employ the concrete and steel formations
to carefully yet meaningfully ground her work in the physical space in which it exists. The
concept of isolation and introspection, evident in the figures’ positioning and facial expressions,
transport Cordóva’s otherwise very massive and weighted sculptures into the realm of the
metaphysical where the paradox of their materiality is belied by their undeniable spirituality and
temporality.
(Fig. 4) Cordóva other sculptures often meditate on these issues as well, including Islas,
where a contemplative figure ponders the life ahead and the world behind, not unlike the figures
of Preludios y Partidas, who ponder the point at which they have arrived. In both pieces the
figures are situated on floating islands mounted on the wall. This installation choice complicates
the appearance of weight and materiality in both works. The heavy-seeming sculptures hover,
12
Santiago-Irizarray, Vilma, Countries and Their Cultures. 13
Cristina Cordóva, email correspondence, March 5, 2013. 14 Ibid.
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suspended in a sea of negative space that is created by the backdrop of the wall. The installation
on the wall does not allow the heaviness of the figures to impose so greatly upon the viewer. We
are in the same physical space as the figures of Preludios y Partidas and Islas, yet we also stand
apart from them, which sustains the figures’ and our own isolation.
Cordóva was originally trained as a classical dancer.15
Harnessing her cultural heritage
and harmonizing it with her performing arts background, she prides herself on transforming
sculptural representations into choreography of a universal/metaphysical experience. In my
interview with the artist, she indicated that she, “attempts to create a sense of theatricality and…
‘choreograph’ a composition. Like in ballet and modern dance the narratives are subtle and
openly propelled by the emotional threads that cue an intuitive understanding of the work.”16
This “choreography” used to manipulate the audience’s reaction into that of “intuitive
understanding,” can be analyzed and understood through the methods and objectives of absurdist
playwrights from WWII Europe and butoh thespians of Japan during the 1960s and 70s, both of
which Cordóva admits to being greatly influenced by.
While Eugène Ionesco, a prominent absurdist writer argued that “Absurd is that which
has no purpose, or goal, or objective,”17
I would argue that this is quite the opposite of the truth
and interject that there is in fact a goal to absurdity and its use in the theater of this period. This
was to seek truth in the meaning of existence in a world of seemingly unpredictable occurrences.
The Theater of the Absurd found its meaning within the characters’ “irrational element of their
own individual existence and of existence in general.”18
It was a continuation of both Dada and
15
. Cristina Cordóva, email correspondence, March 5,2013. 16
Ibid. 17
Esslin, Martin, “The Theatre of the Absurd,” In The Tulane Drama Review 4 (1960): 4, accessed February 25,
2013, http://www.jstore.org/stable/1124873. 18
Hollier, Denis, and R. Howard Bloch, "The Theater of the Absurd," In A New History of French Literature,
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989, 1011.
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Surrealist movements of twentieth century Europe, “attempting to transcend mundane surface
realities and arrive at a ‘surreality’ where powerful forces of the unconscious could be tapped.”19
Further, these artists of the absurd sought to be “cured of words.”20
They were disconcerted with
the belaboring of language used in “slogans, propaganda, and jargon,”21
which encouraged
passivity and detracted from the harsh and bloody realities of the traumatic time following
WWII.22
The playwrights were strongly influenced by the events of the time period including the
death and destruction of the war and the effects wrought by leaders like Stalin and Hitler.23
In the repertoire of absurd plays there is a script written by Jean-Paul Sartre called No
Exit, in which three characters ponder their lives after death. They search for a singular reason
for their placement in this hell-like afterlife. In reality there is no single reason. All three
characters enter into a circulatory dialogue analyzing each others’ existences, oblivious to the
actuality of their disillusioned lives. The characters finally conclude that “Hell is—other
people!”24
Their dialogue catalyzes the audience into a similar analysis of their own lives.
Like a theater director Cordóva evaluates her own reality in the creation of Preludios y
Partidas. She illustrates a metaphysical space in which she “cues” the audience to perform the
aforementioned analysis of existence. Substantiated by references to her personal experiences
and cultural heritage, Preludios y Partidas is not only a constitution of Cordóva’s personal
reality, but a representation of the moment in which she transcends it, providing an invitation for
the audience to do the same. In No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre the protagonist exclaims during a
19
Gaensbauer, Deborah B.,"Jarry, the Dadaists, and the Surrealists," In The French Theater of the Absurd, Boston:
Twayne Publishers, 1991, 10. 20
Ibid, xix. 21
Ibid, xix. 22
Ibid, xvi. 23
Ibid. 24
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “No Exit.” In No Exit and Three Other Plays, 45.
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moment of revelation, “…can one judge a life by a single action?”25
The truth of reality is
revealed, it consists of all experiences, influences, and moments that make up a lifetime.
Cordóva’s piece, reflecting upon the same notion, poses these same questions of reality to its
audience. The figures in Preludios y Partidas, like characters in a play, are set upon their
dislocated pedestals in a state of suspended enlightenment. Their ghost-like presence reveals
their contemplation of the metaphysical realm in which they float.
(Fig. 5) The female figure reaches with one hand and points softly with the other as if she
is literally putting her finger on the answer that has materialized before her. (Fig. 6) The other
figure crouches as if still searching for the enigmatic truth of his existence in the waters offshore
of the isolated and concrete island on which he is perched. Cordóva’s sculpture asks the audience
to search simultaneously for “the possible meaning of what is happening,”26
which lies within
this moment and space that the characters of the installation share with the viewer. The figures
exist in the same physical space, but they are psychologically isolated and lost in thought. The
circulation of thought between the figures, Cordóva, and the audience is reminiscent of the
“circulatory of dialogue,” realized in the absurdist play No Exit. Though the figures do not
appear to be in conversation, the dialogue is held in the metaphysical space flowing around the
figures. It has neither a definite beginning nor end, urging continual transcendent introspection.27
(Fig. 7) In the wake of World War II, another theater movement was created by the
Japanese actor Hijikata Tatsumi.28
He deemed it “ankoku butoh”29
which translates to “dance of
darkness,”30
with butoh being the common name. Referred to both as theater and dance, butoh
25
Sartre, Jean-Paul, “No Exit,” in No Exit and Three Other Plays, (New York: Vintage International, 1989), 43. 26
A New History of French Literature, 1011. 27
Journal of Spanish Studies: Twentieth Century, 62. 28
Sas, Miryam, “Hands, Lines, Acts: Butoh and Surrealism,” Qui Parle 13(2003): 20. 29
Ibid. 30
Ibid.
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performances consist of “intricate, unpredictable movements, extreme facial expressions, and use
of white body paint on exposed flesh” and “cannot be defined in terms of a consistent style.”31
(Fig. 8) Cordóva visually alludes to butoh dance through the white tinted figures in Preludios y
Partidas. Like Cordóva’s installation, butoh has no plot line or spoken dialogue; however, both
create an experience in which the audience invests their subconscious.
Butoh was highly influenced by European Surrealism of the 1920s and 30s.32
It was
during the 1920s that the surrealist movement of Europe was introduced to writers in Japan.33
Evidence of the relationship between Japanese and European Surrealist writers is referenced in
an article on the subject of butoh and surrealism in the journal Qui Parle, in which Japanese
writers state, “We have accepted this technique which provides us materials through the modes
of conscious perception, without having to accept the limits of consciousness.”34
These writers,
like the European surrealists, wished to transcend perceived reality and touch upon a place where
they believed true consciousness resides.
The definition of butoh’s mission relies heavily on paradox.35
While influenced by
Surrealism, it attempted to accomplish everything that surrealism had not achieved. One of the
primary distinctions between the two art forms is surrealism’s use and butoh’s rejection of
language. Butoh would be considered an “anti-language,” 36
defining its metaphysical space with
the use of movement and expression produced by the body, without the confusion of language.37
This stress on the use of the body as the medium resonates within Preludios y Partidas
because the expressions and gestures of the figures play a key role in charging the space with
31
“Hands, Lines, Acts: Butoh and Surrealism,”20. 32
Ibid, 19. 33
Ibid, 24. 34
Ibid. 35
Ibid, 23. 36
Ibid, 26. 37
Ibid, 21.
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meaning. Though in dance movement is inherent and Cordóva’s sculpture is static; she is able to
convey a similar kind of artistic intention and experience for viewers using sculptural
representations of choreographed bodies. Yes, these bodies are suspended in time and gesture,
but, like butoh dancers, they shape and change the space around them.
Butoh uses body language as an “endorsement of a more…private reality.”38
Like
surrealism and absurd theater, it is a way of disconnecting from all preconceived notions of
reality, but performers in butoh attempt to go beyond the definable and reach into a completely
metaphysical plane of universality. This is comparable to Cordóva’s Preludios y Partidas in
which the artist illustrates transcendence and subsequent discovery of a universal moment.
Although her heritage resonates in her piece and reveals her individual reality, these aspects of
Cordóva’s work are incorporated in a way that does not distance the audience or make them feel
separate from something indicative solely of Puerto Rican heritage. Rather, Cordóva uses
symbolism that is recognizable to the subconscious making it universal to all audiences. One of
the most poignant and resonant descriptions of Hijikata’s work is that of his performance titled
650 Dance Experiences about which he stated, “each of the 650 spectators in the theater would
have his or her own unique encounter with the work.”39
(Fig. 9) The power of the individual experience, evident in Preludios y Partidas, reveals
itself in the meditative quietness in the surreal scene. Cordóva refers to this as “the quiet before
the storm.”40
This quieting of the mind, the comfortable feeling of disconnected contemplation,
is a theme that is visually reiterated and flows throughout Cordóva’s sculptures.
Cordóva taps into the subconscious and finds a universal space, one explored in the
methods of absurd theater and butoh as well. Like the dancers of butoh and actors of the absurd,
38
“Hands, Lines, Acts: Butoh and Surrealism,” 21. 39
Ibid, 23. 40
Cristina Cordóva, telephone interview, February 21, 2013.
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Preludios y Partidas brings the audience into a metaphysical realm of contemplation and a space
that taps into a moment of awakening and self-realization. Cordóva stated in our interview that
she attempted to leave herself out of the piece.41
I believe that she can reject the self in order to
create a universal space, but art inevitably contains some mark of its maker. In Preludios y
Partidas, Cordóva proves that this metaphysical identification can nevertheless be universal.
41
Cristina Cordóva, telephone interview, February 21, 2013.
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Works Cited
Carrión, Arturo Morales. A Special Voice: The Cultural Expression. In “Puerto Rico A Political
and Cultural History.” New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc,1983. 319-52.
Cordóva, Cristina. Email Correspondance. March 5, 2013.
Cordóva, Cristina. Resume. Online. Accessed 13 Feb. 2013.
http://www.cristinacordova.com/resume.
Cordóva, Cristina. Telephone interview. February 21, 2013.
Esslin, Martin. “The Theatre of the Absurd.” In The Tulane Drama Review 4 (1960): 3-15.
http://www.jstore.org/stable/1124873. Accessed 25 Feb. 2013.
Fig. 1: Cristina Cordóva working in studio. Courtesy of American Craft Council webpage.
Photo taken by Michael Mauney. http://craftcouncil.org/content/cristina-cordova-portrait
Accessed 5 Mar. 2013.
Fig. 2: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte. Photo by Laura Brown.
http://mintwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/24543675/Cristina%20C%C3%B3rdova. Accessed
5 Mar. 2013.
Fig. 3a: Domingo Orta, Milagro de Hormigueros, 1998, wood carving. Museo de Arte de Ponce,
Ponce. Photograph by John Betancourt.
http://www.santosdepr.org/Santosesp/SantosSpanIndx/Indice/VirgenMonserrate/Vhormig
uerosOrta.htm. Accessed 5 Mar. 2013.
Fig. 3b: Cristina Cordóva and Preludios y Partidas (detail). Mint Museum, Charlotte. Photo
Courtesy of Cristina Cordóva. http://www.mintmuseum.org/news/update-project-ten-ten-
ten. Accessed 5 Mar. 2013.
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Fig. 4: Cristina Cordóva, Islas, 2011, ceramic, concrete, resin.
http://www.cristinacordova.com/gallery. Accessed 15 Feb. 2013.
Fig. 5: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte. http://www.cristinacordova.com/gallery. Accessed 15 Feb. 2013.
Fig. 6: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte. http://www.cristinacordova.com/gallery. Accessed 15 Feb. 2013.
Fig. 7: Paul Ibey performing butoh, November 10, 2012. Courtesy of Appalachian State
University News. http://www.news.appstate.edu/2012/11/05/butoh-dance-paul-ibey/.
Accessed 20 Feb. 2013.
Fig.8: Butoh dancer performs, August 23, 2011. Courtesy of Joel Sadget/Getty of The Guardian
Weekly. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/23/letter-japan-butoh-dance-
sampler. Accessed 14 Mar. 2013.
Fig. 9: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte. Photo by Laura Brown.
http://mintwiki.pbworks.com/w/page/24543675/Cristina%20C%C3%B3rdova. Accessed
5 Mar. 2013.
Gaensbauer, Deborah B., "Jarry, the Dadaists, and the Surrealists." In The French Theater of the
Absurd. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991. 3-12.
Heartney, Eleanor. “Art & Today.” New York: Phaidon Press Inc., 2008.
Hollier, Denis, and R. Howard Bloch. "The Theater of the Absurd." In A New History of French
Literature. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1989. 1006-1011.
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Quackenbush, L. H. “Theatre of the Absurd, Reality, and Carlos Maggi.” In Journal of Spanish
Studies: Twentieth Century 3 (1975): 61-72. Accessed Febrary 25, 2013.
http://www.jostor.org/stable/27740669.
Routté-Gómez, Eneid. “Caribbean Myth, Magic, and the Mainstream.” In ARTnews 94 (1995):
112-113. Print.
SANTIAGO-IRIZARRY, VILMA. "Puerto Rico." Countries and Their Cultures. Ed. Carol R.
Ember and Melvin Ember. Vol. 3. New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 2001. 1814-
1824. World History In Context. Accessed March 6, 2013.
http://proxy.uscupstate.edu:3991/ic/whic/home.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. “No Exit.” In No Exit and Three Other Plays, 3-46. New York: Vintage
International, 1989.
Sas, Miryam. “Hands, Lines, Acts: Butoh and Surrealism.” Qui Parle 13(2003): 19-51.
Accessed Febrary 25, 2013. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20686149.
Schultz, Katey. Article in “From the Inside Out- Two Views on the Creation and Experience of
Cristina Cordóva’s Clay Sculptures.” Online. Accessed March 12, 2013.
http://www.ceramicart.com.au/cap64.shtml.
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Fig. 1: Cristina Cordóva working in studio, photo taken by Michael Mauney, courtesy of
American Craft Council webpage.
Fig. 2: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte. Photo courtesy of Laura Brown.
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Fig. 3a Fig. 3b
Fig. 3a: Domingo Orta, Milagro de Hormigueros, 1998, wood carving, Museo de Arte de Ponce,
Ponce, photograph by John Betancourt.
Fig. 3b: Cristina Cordóva and Preludios y Partidas (detail) Mint Museum, Charlotte, photo
courtesy of Cristina Cordóva.
Fig. 4: Cristina Cordóva, Islas, 2011, ceramic, concrete, resin.
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Fig. 5: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte.
Fig. 6: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte.
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Fig.7: Paul Ibey performing butoh, November 10, 2012, courtesy of Appalachian State
University News.
Fig.8: Butoh dancer performs, August 23, 2011, courtesy of Joel Sadget/Getty of The Guardian
Weekly.
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Fig. 9: Cristina Cordóva. Preludios y Partidas, 2012, ceramic, concrete, steel, resin. Mint
Museum, Charlotte. Photo courtesy of Laura Brown.