The sculptures by Isabel Carvalho exhibited here form part of a recent body of work developed in plaster and shaped in experimental moulds. Creating forms inspired by organic structures and physiological components, these sculptures depart from the human body as a component of the modelling process, that leaves the plaster with an imprint of the artist’s gestuality. These oracular censers contain traces of burnt incense and other substances (such as sawdust from cherrywood, chestnut and pine, specks of incense, dried roses, essence of incense, ground charcoal, diluted gum arabic, and pigments), as well as powdered gold which is applied to the painted plaster. Some of these sculptures might emit smoke during the exhibition when their resins are ignited, turning them incandescent as they evoke the turbulent magnetism of fire.
2021