Ignacia Murtagh Meetings
Until June 1st the exhibition "Encounters" by Ignacia Murtagh will be at the Tánica Building (Av. Santa María 5888, Vitacura).
It can be visited between 9:00 - 18:00 hrs and Saturdays from 10:00 to 15:00 hrs.
Until the 20th century, art was primarily conceived in terms of time. However, the artistic avant-gardes of the early 1900s, and especially the theoretical discussions that gained momentum in the 1990s, played a crucial role in shifting our attention from time to space. Painting rebelled against frames, sculpture jumped off pedestals, and forms no longer represented reality. Fundamental questions arose: What is space and who occupies it? How do individuals inhabit and affect it? How are art objects placed in space, and how do we, as viewers, relate to these works of art? Our perception and appreciation of art became mediated by spatiality. And few artists work with space, play with form, and transform matter more skillfully, beautifully, and subtly than Ignacia Murtagh.
Encounters is a series of 13 large-format sculptures, hand-carved in lapis lazuli stone and wood, arranged at ground level. One could try to decipher whether these pieces are born from design, art or a creative gaze that crosses both disciplines. Much more interesting is to start from the space itself and ask about that stone sitting in the garden. Is it a blue object that inhabits a park, is it an artistic work that alters circulation, is it just an unpretentious rock? Does it serve as a seat, is it displayed as a sculpture or is it an invitation to climb? Does it represent an exploration in terms of media, is it a tribute to our Chilean land, is it a vindication of the lapis lazuli or is it simply polished wood and that's it? Is it delicate or does it have strength? Does the surface or the vertex reign, is it curved or straight, does its geometry flow or is the ovoid accentuated at the meeting of the edges? Is its form intentional or does it escape any formal definition? Does it refer to nature, to the artist's emotions, does it study the behavior of a specific material, or is it a whimsical digression that, with a pinch of mastery, ended up like this? Is it art, is it design, is it beauty, or is it discomfort? Perhaps all of that and more.
Maria Pies O.
Ignacia Murtagh is a Chilean designer and artist, currently based in Santiago, Chile. Her background includes design studies in different places around the world: a Bachelor's degree in Design in Santiago de Chile, studies in Furniture Design at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen, a Ceramic Design Program at the Royal College of Art in London and a Textile Art Residency in New York.
Winner of the 2022 Chile Diseño Award for the best furniture design with Lapis Benches for the Palacio Pereira project; and recently highlighted among the 200 most influential designers of the last century by Phaidon's publication, Woman Made: Great Women Designers.
Murtagh's work is characterized by a sculptural approach to objects. His work is deeply connected with the transformation of materials and how traditional techniques can be translated into contemporary creations with a strong narrative and poetic value.
