Julia Isídrez: Mundo de Julia

Among the most notable sculptors working in South America today, Isídrez has recently emerged on the international stage as a singular voice in contemporary art. She continues to garner broader recognition for elaborating the sculptural and expressive capacity of an ancient methodology passed down by her mother, the famed ceramic artist Juana Marta Rodas (1925-2013). Expanding an indigenous Guaraní tradition in which mothers have taught ceramic techniques to their daughters for centuries, Isídrez reconfigures the sculptural language and traditional forms of her ancestors, fostering her own creative force in the realm of contemporary sculpture. On view in Mundo de Julia are a series of vessels that Isídrez has transformed into sentient creatures, deeply rooted in the specificity of place yet expressing universal aspects of the human experience of the natural world.

Having worked with clay since her youth, Isídrez’s intuitive knowledge of her material lends to confident gestures that give life to vivid forms, whose variegated surfaces are informed by the unpredictable nature of firing ceramics. Exploring the lyrical possibilities of clay, Isídrez transcends the traditional forms and functions of her medium to create sculptures that brim with life. Using the format of urns and vases as a starting point to engage in formal experimentation and play, Isídrez uniquely portrays animals native to Paraguay, such as the anteater, or anthropomorphized vessels with heads and appendages emerging from exterior surfaces. Reducing her forms to bulbous curves or sharp points shaped by hand, Isídrez accentuates the defining characteristics of each animalistic being. With a nod to the traditional votive function of the urn as a receptacle for the soul and body, Isídrez imbues her works with an unparalleled vitality.

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The artist creates and hand fires her works at her studio in Itá, Paraguay. Making evocative works that offer new contributions to contemporary sculpture, Isídrez’s technique bears witness to the technical adaptations of those that came before her, withstanding the influences of modernity and globalization. Deeply informed by the work of her maternal ancestry, Isídrez continues to work and teach ceramics in Itá, indicative of the significant influence she and her mother have imparted on artists across the region.

Since the early 1990s, Julia Isídrez has participated in numerous biennials and institutional exhibitions at premiere venues across Latin America, Asia, and Europe, including the 60th Venice Biennale and Documenta 13. Her work is held in the collections of the Denver Art Museum, the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain, Paris, and the Museo del Barro, Asunción, Paraguay. She lives and works in Itá, Paraguay.

In her ongoing presentation at the historic Arsenale as part of the 60th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, the artist’s work is installed in dialogue with that of her mother, encouraging observation of Isídrez’s singular approach to an inherited technique. Mundo de Julia is presented in collaboration with Gomide & Co.