Gathering

In my work I try to capture the world of the indescribable, the world of feelings, fears, and desires. We experience these unaccountable forces as threatening and ill-fitted, and therefore, we go through a painful conflict between mind and body.” Clarina Bezzola

It is between two worlds, where we often feel torn. Entangled in cognitive captivity, thoughts whirl through our minds and don’t allow us to calm down.

In her current exhibition, “Two Worlds”, the young Swiss artist, Clarina Bezzola (*1970), describes the discord between coercion on one level and freedom on another. The world of emotions, psychology, and corporeality are decidedly important in Clarina Bezzola’s work. And Nature itself portrayed in her work mirrors human sensitivity. It emerges as symbolic vibrancy, boasting an ever-mysterious connection to human life. Colliding realities and erratic mutations recur in Bezzola’s work just as inversions of internal and exterior worlds do.

In her earlier works, Bezzola felt the necessity to bury her unbearable feelings of vulnerability under impenetrable armours. Some times protected by a solid shield of metal or else camouflaged by filigree flower patterns, these protective skins enable its wearer to keep any shortcoming to him or herself, and emerge armed with a new identity. Even today’s society contrives protective coats, in order to sustain the demarcation between two contrasting worlds.

Protective mechanisms, to which metamorphosis can be counted in some cases, have been known in the art-historical tradition since antiquity. Arguably most famous for the fusion of man and plant is “Daphne” from Ovid’s metamorphoses. Ultimately, Daphne sends an ejaculation to the gods while escaping from Apollo, and subsequently turns into a Grecian Laurel. This metamorphisizing spell protects Daphne from Apollo’s desire and enables her to convert into a pure state of nature. Her hair adopts the form of leaves, bark protectively sheathes her body, feet become roots, and fingers, branches.

But what happens if the process of metamorphosis gets inversed? What if, say, roots became fingers and humans found new grounding by wearing helmets shaped like roots? How should we approach this phenomenon? These are situations, whereby mankind silently and submissively coalesces with nature and the universe. But before coalescence, the long path of self-recognition awaits human beings. Only a state of trust allowing fusion enables humans to be at ease with nature.

This process of letting go can however be of very longwinded nature. The overcoming of this dichotomy turns out to be an organic growing process, which even grows beyond the duration of the exhibition. Through her sketches and drawings Clarina Bezzola illustrates the difficulties of this theme and grants us some insight into the creation process of her next large-scale performance piece. With this specific project, Bezzola ultimately plans to illustrate the dilemma of mankind, as we are no longer capable of listening to our own thoughts or allowing ourselves to simply drift from one experience to another, due to the societal burdens we are carrying on our shoulders.
Dolefully lamenting, while connected to extensive roots emerging from her body, the artist intends to wander through the streets of a city, pulling a colossal globe along. Due to the extreme length of these roots, which make the remote distance to her mother earth too great to feel a connection, the sad wanderer has become unaware of her origin. It seems that in this state of isolation the aria from Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, “La Sonnambula” (1831) which she is singing, is shot into nothingness. Not until the end, when she arrives at a place of closure, does she realize her connection and starts pulling the earth closer and closer to her-self, to finally slip into her mother completely and coalesce with everything. What remains are the remnants of the metamorphosis.


	Two Worlds Clarina Bezzola Galerie Adler, Frankfurt am Main September 5 – October 24, 2009 Opening Reception: Fri, Sept. 4, 6 – 9pm
	In my work I try to capture the world of the indescribable, the world of feelings, fears, and desires. We experience these unaccountable forces as threatening and ill-fitted, and therefore, we go through a painful conflict between mind and body.” Clarina Bezzola It is between two worlds, where we often feel torn. Entangled in cognitive captivity, thoughts whirl through our minds and don’t allow us to calm down. In her current exhibition, “Two Worlds”, the young Swiss artist, Clarina Bezzola (*1970), describes the discord between coercion on one level and freedom on another. The world of emotions, psychology, and corporeality are decidedly important in Clarina Bezzola’s work. And Nature itself portrayed in her work mirrors human sensitivity. It emerges as symbolic vibrancy, boasting an ever-mysterious connection to human life. Colliding realities and erratic mutations recur in Bezzola’s work just as inversions of internal and exterior worlds do. In her earlier works, Bezzola felt the necessity to bury her unbearable feelings of vulnerability under impenetrable armours. Some times protected by a solid shield of metal or else camouflaged by filigree flower patterns, these protective skins enable its wearer to keep any shortcoming to him or herself, and emerge armed with a new identity. Even today’s society contrives protective coats, in order to sustain the demarcation between two contrasting worlds. Protective mechanisms, to which metamorphosis can be counted in some cases, have been known in the art-historical tradition since antiquity. Arguably most famous for the fusion of man and plant is “Daphne” from Ovid’s metamorphoses. Ultimately, Daphne sends an ejaculation to the gods while escaping from Apollo, and subsequently turns into a Grecian Laurel. This metamorphisizing spell protects Daphne from Apollo’s desire and enables her to convert into a pure state of nature. Her hair adopts the form of leaves, bark protectively sheathes her body, feet become roots, and fingers, branches. But what happens if the process of metamorphosis gets inversed? What if, say, roots became fingers and humans found new grounding by wearing helmets shaped like roots? How should we approach this phenomenon? These are situations, whereby mankind silently and submissively coalesces with nature and the universe. But before coalescence, the long path of self-recognition awaits human beings. Only a state of trust allowing fusion enables humans to be at ease with nature. This process of letting go can however be of very longwinded nature. The overcoming of this dichotomy turns out to be an organic growing process, which even grows beyond the duration of the exhibition. Through her sketches and drawings Clarina Bezzola illustrates the difficulties of this theme and grants us some insight into the creation process of her next large-scale performance piece. With this specific project, Bezzola ultimately plans to illustrate the dilemma of mankind, as we are no longer capable of listening to our own thoughts or allowing ourselves to simply drift from one experience to another, due to the societal burdens we are carrying on our shoulders. Dolefully lamenting, while connected to extensive roots emerging from her body, the artist intends to wander through the streets of a city, pulling a colossal globe along. Due to the extreme length of these roots, which make the remote distance to her mother earth too great to feel a connection, the sad wanderer has become unaware of her origin. It seems that in this state of isolation the aria from Vincenzo Bellini’s opera, “La Sonnambula” (1831) which she is singing, is shot into nothingness. Not until the end, when she arrives at a place of closure, does she realize her connection and starts pulling the earth closer and closer to her-self, to finally slip into her mother completely and coalesce with everything. What remains are the remnants of the metamorphosis.