Utopia X Matter - India 2006

Mobility has guided my artistic path. The concept of moving my workspace and thus getting to find and work with different materials and people, is the guiding line of my work. In Summer of2006 I stayed in Nellikuppam, in Tamil Nadu, South India. As I see it, in a way my work there was a turning point as far as I understand the concept of artistic settlement. The project was called “Utopia x Matter”, and focused on the duality of explosive physical material manifestations and the deep sense of spirituality felt all around in every little thing. All pieces resulting from this project were conceived exclusively with local materials, like religious pigments, handmade paint, artisan paper, etc. I believe this apparent difficulty to work with materials that are strange to my background is absorbed in such a way that enables an important process of constant learning and improving for me, as I adapt to my individual artistic context whole new ways of working and achieving my purposes aesthetically.

Jorge Cruz 2007